


The Battle Between Bloodlust and Protection

by TheEmpressAR



Category: Bates Motel (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood and Gore, Blood and Torture, F/M, M/M, Power Play, Sexual Content, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-13
Updated: 2017-04-01
Packaged: 2018-08-14 18:37:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 30,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8024707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheEmpressAR/pseuds/TheEmpressAR
Summary: Norma Louise Bates - rogue vampire, fleeing from her homeland with her son Dylan Massett to settle in the nondescript town of White Pine Bay in the middle of nowhere to remain undetected and unknown save for her lust and need to feed upon the unsuspecting residents.  Caleb Calhoun - a powerful vampire and hunter of his sister, is tracking her down to find her and when he does....what will be her fate?Sheriff Alex Romero has crimes to solve, he may be in over his head on this one, but will he fall to her charms or be yet another one of her many victims.  Norman Bates...a young man caught in the middle of it all.  Where does he fit in?  Wait and see....





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [solveariddle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/solveariddle/gifts).



Hello. My name is Norman Bates, and I live in a house full of vampires. I know, I know, not a great way to start off a tale. Maybe you're thinking it's a bit cliche. But it's the truth, as far as I know, and it's what my life is all about. Don't believe me? Don't believe in vampires? Do you think I'm mad? Well as my mother (one of the 'vile fiends' as they are known to be called), has told me growing up 'We all go a little mad sometimes'.

  
Maybe you're wondering about me. Am I one of the undead? No. Thankfully, I was spared that lot when it was doled out upon her kind and was born naturally to a real mother and father some 18 years ago. All of this has been told to me in bits and pieces by my brother Dylan whom, as you may have guessed, is also a vampire. He told me that I was taken from my home and my real family by her because she found me irresistible when she had spied me in my crib all those years ago. He said she had seen my veins in the moonlight, pulsating, throbbing with life and that she wanted me. And what she wanted, she got. I don't like much retelling what happened to my real family that night, but as Dylan told me when he knew I was old enough to understand, my life was spared, but my parents' sadly were not.

  
Dylan shows me no sympathies and shoots it to me straight. He's always that way. He said that if he hadn't had been there as well that night, I would not be here today to tell my story. He had been lurking in the shadows, staying behind but stalking her. It was easy to go somewhat undetected but he knew she knew he was in the air. She has a powerful sense of smell, my mother. She can smell you coming from the woods across the road from where our house is, and our motel which is a front for her nefarious behavior.

  
He said on that night as she approached my crib, my parents had burst into the room, hearing the commotion from the shattering of the glass window of my nursery. She had already begun to run her fingers over my small neck, drawn to the pulsing veins. I was crying and screaming and my parents were in shock at what they were seeing. Dylan told me that even then and even with what he was, he found it deplorable for her to attack an innocent child and that he would not let her have me. What took place next was in the span of mere minutes as both speed and strength pitted themselves against each other and a battle for my life and my very existence hung in the balance of who would win out.

  
My parents rushed her with blind rage, innocence and stupidity. Dylan shouted to them to stay away and to leave the room, but it was for naught. With two quick slashes of her claws, she had severed their vocal cords blood spurting on the walls, the carpet, the ceiling in hot high arcs, due to the pumping of their accelerated heartbeats. My birthmother gasped and clutched at her neck the blood pouring down running over her fingers and onto her white nightgown bright red in the light of the room, black in the moonlight. Dylan had grabbed me in the milliseconds took for her to eviscerate them and had moved me to the opposite side of the room. He looks away shamefully at what he tells me next.

  
"I couldn't help it, Norman. The smell. It's inside of me. It's inside of her. The need for it. I can't resist it and I hate her for it still. She turned me into this...this monster and I can't forgive her for that. But for all her flaws she is still my mother, and I love her with a deeper pulse than mortals understand. But I would not let her have you. And that is why you are here. And that is why your parents are not. They had to be the distraction that kept you alive. They gave their lives for you, the most nobel thing parents can do for their children." He looked away bitterly from me as he spoke those words.

  
"What did you do, Dylan?" I asked. I had grown up in such violence and such fear and such acceptance all my life even at that point that nothing he could say to me would make me surprised or shocked. I knew what she was. I knew what he was. I knew I lived on borrowed time, day after day, but I was not afraid. I am getting ahead of myself now, it will all become clearer.

  
Dylan's breath caught in his throat and he looked at me with such shame. "I fed. I fed with her. I fed on their bodies and their rich blood lifesource. I made her feed, which she did gladly. She is a vicious, beautiful creature, you know that. She will stop at nothing with the guise of love and seduction. It is her power. We bathed in your parent's blood until we were both tinged purple. You were crying in the corner. I was trying my best to will you to silence, but I was in too deep. I saw her rise and go over to the corner where you were howling. I blocked her before she reached you. There was need and insatiable hunger in both of our eyes. She drew her attention to me."

  
I always thank my older brother for having more willpower and restraint than she ever could and I understand the torment that he suffers because of it. I have seen the look in his eye in regards to me from time to time and if I were ever to be afraid it would be in these times. I can't even pretend to think I could fight them both off. I just know how to survive. Why don't I leave, you ask? Do you think I want to? They are the only family I know.

  
"Spare him. Spare his life. Norma if you have an ounce of feeling in you, think back to what was done to me...don't do that again. You owe me."

  
He tells me she pushed past him and lifted me up. She stilled my squirming, panicked cries with a bloodied finger to my small lips, her eyes delving into my own. "My son." she whispered.


	2. Closer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A shaky start to life in White Pine Bay....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song: Closer - Kings of Leon.
> 
> Here is a nice Bates Fanvid I found with the song....EMPjoy!
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxLOfJS4Sfo - credit goes to Lachka

_Stranded in this spooky town_  
_Stoplight is swaying and the phone lines are down_  
_Floor is crackling cold_  
_She took my heart, I think she took my soul_  
_With the_ moon _I run_  
_Far from the carnage of the fiery sun_

Dylan leaves the house around midnight. It's the only time he feels truly free. He looks up at the moon and a tear forms in one eye. How often had he looked at the beacon of light that draws his awe and admiration? There is only one other entity that has the same and sometimes greater hold on him; that leaves him grounded and adrift all at the same time. Not tonight. Tonight he goes alone. Tonight he seeks out the source of his need. He has been in this town for two weeks now and he has already begun to feel trapped. His mother, this time, has decided that they would try and play it legit. They would try to start new lives by the seaside, in Oregon no less. They had been all around the world in many places, hovels and hotels, years and years the best and the worst. What made her choose this place was the real mystery to him. She knew what water, and this much of it, surrounding them would eventually do to them. His mind already was unquiet and unsettled. He could only imagine what it was doing to her. Oh well, he had decided, let her find out on her own. They wouldn't be here long either.

  
The only one he was concerned about, as always, was his brother. He had been carted around with their makeshift family for all of his 18 years of life. He never had the chance to settle down, make friends, find out who he was meant to be. Dylan had spent the last 18 years doing the best to keep him safe. Some times were harder than others. Sometimes things got messy. But always, he was there and he would never leave Norman defenseless. He had taught Norman all of the ways to keep himself safe, in the instances he might not be around to protect and save him. He trusted his mother. He didn't trust who she was. He didn't trust who he was. But Norman had a better chance with him. When he felt the strong need to even taste him, he knew how to step away from the situation. His mother, powerful as she may be, was never able to resist Norman's pull on her, and therefore they always walked a tightrope of danger.

  
Tonight, Norman was out "studying" with some classmates from his "temporary" school. He had told Norman to risk doing a little more than just studying with the girls that had invited him over. He could try and live a little while he was here. His brother spent too much time cooped up under his mother's watchful eye. Sometimes it was safer to send him out with other mortals than to have him alone too long with her. Norman had reluctantly agreed. He knew his mother would be upset with him leaving her, but Dylan had urged him to go.

  
Dylan feels lightheaded as he makes his way into town. He prefers to walk, rather than use his mother's car. Automobiles were always a joke to him, he had seen the progression of their advancements over the years, and in his opinion, they were not much different now than when they were first let loose on the streets. He loved horses. Back in his homeland, he would race them, urging them faster, as fast as he could run until he soared into the sky, up into the clouds the darkness taking him over. He was running now. He was running until the evening breeze took him over, transformed him until he was a part of it, his molecules dispersed into the mist that hung in the air.

  
He coalesces in front of a bar. The only one in this boring little seaside town. He makes sure that he is alone before coming completely together. Yes, he is on the hunt, but he preferred to handle his prey in a different way. He didn't like terror. That was his mother's business. He preferred peaceful offerings and often removing the dregs of society. It may prove hard to find any in this town, but the bar would be a start. He straightened his jacket and approached the door. There were a few other cars in the parking lot. He took note of the poor lighting outside of the bar and smiled a little. It was almost too easy.

 

 _Driven by the_ strangle _of vein_  
_Showing no mercy I'd do it again_  
_Open up your eyes_  
_You keep on crying_  
_Baby I'll bleed you dry_  
_Skies are blinking at me_  
_I see a storm bubbling up from the sea_  
_And it's coming closer_  
_And it's coming closer_

  
Norma paces the bedroom of her two-story Queen Anne style home that she had procured through her latest hapless victim that she let believe was her husband. The men in the last few decades of her existence had done nothing but disgust her. Unattractive slobs with meager jobs who found it best to cling to their modicum of self-confidence by abusing her, pushing her around, taking what they wanted, letting her taste her own blood on more than one occasion. Maybe it was her sick version of a joke but she had liked the smell of their cheap powerplay when they took advantage of her. She knew at any time all she had to do was end their pitiful excuse of life with one quick snap, and she often did, not even bothering with wasting her time to get her hands dirty. She had grown bored with it all. How many men had she killed in her past? How many before Norman came into her life? Sam Bates was the longest "relationship" she had held onto, if only for the benefit of her mortal son. She also did not have a lot of cash stored away. There had been tough times over the last decade. The only windfall she had received was when Sam had died 'unexpectedly'. She was able to find the house and motel and still keep herself out of the radar of the one that was tracking her. It was always best to stay one step ahead of him.

  
Norma looks at the clock again. It is fifteen minutes past midnight. Her son should have been home hours ago and yet he was still out. Against her wishes. Her eyes flash with rage as she remembers his defiant attitude. She had even tried to coerce him into staying with her again, by looking into his eyes and tapping his soul. He had almost stayed if it were not for Dylan. He knew what she was doing and quickly snapped Norman out of it. Norma was too tired to fight her son again and had a lot on her mind besides. Moving into this house had not come without its difficulties. No sooner had she put her home soil into the pliable dirt under the structure of the house had someone come knocking on the door, threatening to take it away from her. Keith Summers had said that the house still belonged to him. Norma stood her ground, not even remotely afraid of the fat bastard on her porch as he shouted curses at her while her son stood beside her. She remembers giving him a parting smile. A warning. If he wanted to threaten her, he better be sure he was ready for his fate.

  
Her ears detect a scrabbling at the back door Even though she knew the person was trying their best to be as quiet as possible, to Norma's ears it sounded like nails on a chalkboard. The sound could be deafening if she let it. She shook her head and smiled ruefully. Someone wanted to play. Why was it always the ugly ones? She flashed her eyes outside of the window one last time, trying to find any signs of her son's return. He was still too far away for her to pick up his scent. The sea also affected her abilities slightly. It might prove to be a vulnerability, but she decided to worry about that later. Her nostrils were craving his smell. Instead she smelled old sweat and alcohol. She sighed and in an instant she was at the back door.

\----------

  
He had her bent over the kitchen table, her panties around her ankles his belt and jeans around his knees. He was screaming in her face. His breath was horrible. He stank and the sweat was dripping off of his face and on to her lower back. Norma was screaming back at him. She felt his hand in her hair, grabbing the back of her head as he kept thrusting into her from behind. Her mind was running ahead of her, keeping focussed on the timing. She was becoming dizzy with the evil that was coming off of him in waves. It was the appetizer before the meal. She kept up the ruse but was becoming bored, almost stifling a yawn as she felt his stub of a little penis trying to get off into her. What a joke he was.

  
She was about to "climax" as it were when he was almost ready to meet his, when she heard his voice in her ear. She shook her head. She wasn't paying attention and now she had another problem to deal with.

  
"Mom....MOM!!" He screamed from the entryway to the dining room.

  
She looked up at Norman, standing there, books in his hand, look of horror on his face. She screamed on the inside. 'NOT NOW!'

  
Keith Summers paused momentarily. He was so close and almost over the edge when the snot-nosed kid threw him off his groove. He didn't stop, he couldn't. If the boy wanted to watch him rape his mother, all the more the merrier.

  
"Norman!! Help me!!!" Norma screamed at her son. Norman was still frozen into place. He heard her tone and it snapped him to attention. He knew what was about to happen. He didn't want to see it. He looked at his mother for another brief second transferring his thoughts of disapproval in her direction. He turned to leave and go to the other room. She wouldn't need much longer.

  
Keith tried to regain his momentum when Norman had left and had the opportunity to get one last thrust in before Norma, lightening quick, turned around and grabbed his wrist and forced him to his knees in a flash of a second. She looked into his beady, little, shocked piggy eyes loving the way his mind couldn't comprehend or grasp what had just happened. "My turn." She said softly. Her eyes flashed red and Keith Summers saw his death within the dark irises.

  
Norma's left hand shot up and cast a brief shadow against the kitchen wall from the still swinging overhead light. Her claws had grown and her fangs had extended and Keith Summers shook his head in disbelief as he watched her hand come down and tear out his jugular. His blood splashed her in the face and the last thing he saw before falling backwards to the ground was Norma licking her lips in ecstasy. She pounced on him then, tearing at his throat with her teeth, ripping and shredding his throat, turning both of their faces unrecognizable, covered in blood. She leapt from his chest and brought both of her clawed hands to it slashing it wide open, cutting deep, disemboweling him on the kitchen floor.

 _You_ shimmy-shook _my boat_  
_Leaving me stranded all in love on my own_  
_Do you think of me_  
_Where am I now_  
_Baby where do I sleep_

Well here I am again. Did you miss me? Somehow I thought this time, it would be different. It was nice here. I felt like I could finally fit in, in this place. Yes...I know it's only been a couple of weeks, but I kinda like it here. That was until this poor fool found his way into my mother's line of sight. True it didn't take long for another catch. She had that way about her. It really wasn't fair to her victims, but I can't say that this bastard didn't deserve it. I saw how he looked at her. I sometimes have a hard time fighting my own feelings for the woman I see now writhing in this asshole's blood staining our kitchen floor, that used to be his. He should have just let it go. He didn't know. How could he? I'm feeling a bit jealous of the man she now feeds on. Is that strange? I don't know maybe you'll have to get to know me better. I hope you do by the time this is all over. I envy the way her attention is focussed completely on her task. I know she loves the taste of blood. I know she needs the blood for her survival. I know how much she needs it at times like this and I become non-existent to her. I want her to feel like I am the only one in the world for her, just as her necessity for the blood is. She has a piece of him now and she always holds me apart. In times like this, she even refuses to look at me. I should have just stayed home tonight and maybe this all could have been avoided, but who am I kidding? I know nothing will ever change.

  
"Mother...." I cautiously put my hand on her shoulder.

  
She turns to me her eyes wild and the iciest shade of cut crystal, blood on her mouth, skin as pale as moonlight in the snow. Beyond beautiful. Her hair is matted in viscera and she is panting.

  
"Leave him now. It's over." I stand a few inches back. I know in this frame of mind she could lash out at me, and Dylan is not here to fight her off. I've done this countless times before even without his knowledge, but that doesn't mean I'm any less afraid of her or off of my guard.

  
"LEAVE ME!" She screams into my face.

  
"WHY!! I thought this would be different!! How can you keep doing this to me, to us! I love you and you don't know how much this is killing me! Clean up your own mess. I'm going to bed!"

  
I leave her in the middle of the kitchen in the middle of what is left of Keith Summers. I hear a cry escape from her lips and a twinge of guilt creeps in, as it always does.

 _Feels so good but I'm old_  
_Two thousand years of chasing taking its toll_  
_And it's coming closer_  
_And it's coming closer_

 


	3. Hungry Like the Wolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a lot more to White Pine Bay than Norma anticipated...Discoveries all around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short chapter tonight. I hope to write TONS more this weekend! 
> 
> Here is a very nice version of Hungry Like The Wolf. I like remakes like these and it's where I draw most of my EMPspiration ...enjoy!
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCzgVC8--T0

_Stalked in the forest too close to hide_  
_I'll be upon you by the moonlight side_  
_High blood Drumming on your skin it's so tight_  
_You feel my heat I'm just a moment behind_

_A dark, clear night. Full moon high in the sky. Sounds of heavy breathing, panting, exertion as twigs and leaves crunch underfoot._

There were woods in White Pine Bay. That was an understatement. It was one big forest surrounded by the sea. Plenty of hunting grounds both on land and in the water. It was a paradise to some.

_Stopping....sniffing the air... they were close. He could smell them, their scent clinging to every hair in his nose. Not in his town. The moon. The moon displaced his concentration. The pain he lived and suffered through left him with the taste of bile in his throat. He ran._

  
He reached the precipice of the mountain on the outskirts of the woods. He loved it at the top. He could look down over the expanse of the territory and claim it as his own. No one challenged him and it had been that way for a very, very long time. He hated the stench of vampires and their like. He had dealings with them before and it never ended up well. He tolerated the ethereal beings that haunted the forests where he hunted because they always stayed in the shadows and never did anyone harm unless there was just cause. They had a lucrative business that he was well aware of and it was basically what kept White Pine Bay on the map and financially sound. Yes, it was borderline illegal but everyone, mortal or not knew of the code. If they wanted the good life, they would let it happen.

  
_Yellow eyes, piercing the night...looking into the shadows, teeth bared ready to attack. Hackles raised and alert. Catching movement in the air. Sly smile in his head....as if air could ever be as feminine as this felt. It wisped past the fur on his back and up his spine. He shivered and shook himself. He breathed in again, catching the distinct odor of death and centuries of age. He ran._  
_____

She was high in the trees and happened to catch him running. Wolves. This could pose a real problem. She thought she had put a good distance between herself and the last pack she encountered. They were always such temperamental beasts and there was no escape from the lot, there always seemed to be a litter of the mongrels everywhere she went. She wanted to see what she was dealing with, so she followed him. She swooped down, moving from branch to branch misting and reappearing as quickly as the breeze changed directions. She should have been hunting with her son. She always felt stronger when he was with her and they were working as a team. Lately, he had been wanting to do his own thing, preferring not to take part in the games she would play. He seemed to be pulling away from her. She could not allow that to happen. She needed his strength and support. And she wanted him. It had been too long. Decades since he last showed her any kind of true affection...any touch other than the one of death that left her cold and empty. Things were different now. But he would never leave her.

  
She had let her thoughts drift her far past the moon and she let her judgment err. For a brief moment, she had come into contact with the beast below and felt his body brush against hers. He was a solid mass of flesh and teeth and fur and bones. Norma rolled to a stop on the ground in front of him, momentarily senseless. She was in her changed state, it would take extra concentration to reflect her human form and she was in no mind to do so. For a moment they were eye to eye, face to face.

  
A shaft of moonbeam peaked through the trees at that moment and illuminated her, pale almost glowing, fangs exposed, eyes cut crystal glass shining back at amber gold. Neither showed any fear and they sized the other up. With a wink of her eye, Norma transformed into mist once again and was gone. She hoped he had gotten a good look at her because she wasn't leaving. Not by a long shot.

 _In touch with the ground_  
_I'm on a hunt down after you_  
Scent _and a sound. I'm lost and I'm found_  
_And I'm hungry like the wolf._  
_Strut on a line it's discord and rhyme_  
_I howl and I whine I'm after you_  
_Mouth is alive all running inside_  
_And I'm hungry like the wolf._

  
_Blind rage pushing him through the trees, down the path, over upturned trees, rocks, and_ brooks _. Through meadows. He has her scent. He will find her. She was now an imprint on his senses. He would not forget. He lost the trail when he crossed the river. He should have remembered. They never crossed streams of water. He stopped, panting again, frustrated. He was at the edge of the forest, close to the outer limits of the town. His eyes human now, his teeth sharp. He lets out a long and loud piercing howl to the moon. It was only a matter of time._


	4. We Gotta Get Out of This Place.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Norman remembers.....a flashback chapter.
> 
> Here is the song for this chapter:
> 
> Denmark and Winter - We gotta get out of this place.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isk-nraYumA

_In this dirty old part of the city_  
_Where the sun refused to shine_  
_People tell me there ain't no use in tryin'_

  
Do you want me to tell you about the first time I truly felt afraid of my mother? I say it's the first time because believe me I don't think that it will be the last time.

  
My mother possesses incredible composure and willpower when she chooses to put it into practice. I mean look at me. A mortal in her presence night and day. A mortal who is close to her. One that she doesn't have to bend to her will. I go willingly. I think in her own way she chooses to protect me and keep me close as a personal challenge or as a punishment for something she had done a long, long time ago. I see it in her eyes. Sometimes I see it in Dylan's. What secrets do they hide that they both keep from me? I have always felt on the outside, looking in on a world that I had no business even knowing about. Let me ask you. Do you know about the underworld? Yes, you...the one reading this right now. Do you know they exist and are all around us? No...you don't...and I will tell you why. They have taken great pains to keep themselves hidden. Yes, if you are like the average skeptic, you refuse to believe in things like ghosts and witches. But once you have been exposed and even marked as one of their property, the doors are wide open. You will know what to look for. I know what to look for. I watch my mother. She watches me. We have an understanding. Wherever we are at. Whatever place we wind up. We keep the rules in place. I will protect her with my life, even if it means that I give it over to her. Why do I do this when I know by now that she was the one who killed my parents, who killed the man I called father growing up? She said it was an accident but I don't know if I truly believe that.

  
\-----

  
Watch my daddy in bed a-dyin'  
Watched his hair been turnin' grey  
He's been workin' and slavin' his life away  
Oh yes I know it  
He's been workin' so hard  
I've been workin' too, baby  
Every night and day

  
_*FLASH* Screams. Sounds from the front room._

  
_Waking up in my room. Where am I? Groggily, I sit up and look around._

  
_*FLASH* I see him holding her down, arms behind her back. He thinks he's stronger than she is. My mother sees me. A smile plays on her lips. I look down at my hands. Something is in one._

  
_I walk down the hallway to the bathroom. Where is she?_

  
_*FLASH* Her eyes delve deep into mine, hypnotic. I hear her in my head. She strokes me into compliance. She makes me understand that it the right and best thing to do. I feel a warm rush of emotion and peacefully zone-out. I want this and I feel that he's hurting her and I don't want her in pain. While he is screaming in her face he strikes her and I see red. I raise what is in my hand, controlled and calculating I hit him hard and he goes down. My face doesn't change. I feel nothing._

  
_I am pounding on the bathroom door. 'Mom!! Mommy!! Let me in!!'_

  
_*FLASH* Blood everywhere. More blood than I am used to seeing. More blood than I've ever seen. Painting the walls. Flooding the carpet. Her face. Unnatural. Cold, ice eyes, unseeing in_ ecstasy _. Hands steeped in the red liquid, licking her fingers, laughing. Her teeth._ Brilliant _white, still glinting in the heavily curtained shadows of daylight. She looks at me and smiles._

  
_I remember the door to the bathroom opening. She stands there, toweling her hair dry. She is in a clean bathrobe, look of concern on her face. I go to her. Wild look in my eyes. She is calm. I look her over. My heart is racing I can hear it in my ears. I remember Dylan's warning. He tells me to remain calm. Always remain calm. If I can hear my blood racing it is like a freight train of sound and temptation to her. I have to know. I have to know that I didn't just see her do what she did to my father. That she didn't just tear him apart. I come closer and she is reaching her arms out to me. My eyes search hers and there is no trace of the monster within. Her pupils are wide fully_ dilated _and I cannot look away._

  
_"Norman....honey are you ok?"_

  
_"Mom...what happened. I couldn't find you. I was scared...what...what happened? Where's dad?"_

  
_Her hands came up to my head and her fingers threaded through my hair. I love it when she touches me this way. I lean into her caress when she cups my cheek. I still cannot look away from her. My eyes searching, a tear forming in the corner. She swallows hard and her eyes trail to the hollow of my throat. She comes dangerously close to me. I can feel her breath, cold on my skin. She looks back at me._

_"Norman...." She brings her mouth to my lips, barely kissing the corner._

  
_I bring my hands to her shoulders, intending to push her away from me but I cannot. I stand frozen into place. I have to will my racing heart to calm, but it is now pounding in my chest for other reasons I cannot explain or understand._

  
Now my boy you're so young and pretty  
And one thing I know is true, yeah  
You'll be dead before your time is due, I know it

  
_"Mother...." I say my voice caught around the lump in my throat. I swallow and she sighs at the sight of my Adam's apple. I feel something sharp at my bottom lip. It is what snaps me to attention. I push her away hard. I look at her and shake my head in disbelief. She has willed her eyes back to normal._

_"Norman..." She says sternly and the trance is broken. "You're breaking the rules. I need you to go back to your room and stay there for the rest of the night. I will take care of this, but you need to leave me, right now. If you value your life you will do as I say. I don't know if I can resist what you are doing to me now. I've warned you before."_

  
_"You're scaring me, mother. I'm scared, ok!" I say still coming back to myself. My head still feels foggy, dizzy. I need to lie down, but I don't want to turn my back on her._

  
_"I scare you?" She says in disbelief._

_\---------_

And that's how it is with us. After that time, I've kept on my guard. It was only, what? Last year? I know what she was doing to me. Do you think I hate her for that? It may just be me. It may just be my age. But it makes me love her more. I need to protect her. But I know it is I who needs the protection most. I am aware that as I grow older she will remain the same. And one day, I will be her equal. And then I will continue to grow older. Until I die. But I will protect Norma Bates with my last breath. I will keep her secrets. I will long for her, she has that hold on me. And if I do die by her hands, then death would never taste as sweet.

  
_We gotta get out of this place_  
_If it's the last thing we ever do_  
_We gotta get out of this place_  
_Girl, there's a better life for me and you_  
_Believe me baby_  
_I know it baby_  
_You know it too_


	5. Everybody's Changing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everybody's Changing - by Keane
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx4Hjq6KwO0
> 
> Will Norman ever fit in? Always on the outside looking in.

_You say you wander your own land_  
_But when I think about it_  
_I don't see how you can_

  
_I wake up. Encircled in a pair of ivory white arms. Not much sunshine finds its way to tan these deceptively delicate limbs, almost translucent even in their human form. This is a regular occurrence in my house. I either wake up in her arms or she is in mine. I lace my fingers with hers and sigh. I am not even nervous when her lips are on my throat._

  
Dylan has come home at dawn. I know this because he pauses in front of her room . I see his eyes in the dark corridor. In seconds he is in front of me hovering over my face. I see the traces of his latest meal on his bottom lip. She has not yet returned, but I felt I couldn't sleep until she held me. I was having problems at school. I was seeing....things. My teacher, Blair Watson, is a very patient woman, especially with new students to her class that hadn't grown up with the rest of them. Most of my classmates have known each other since grade school. They don't seem to take well to outsiders, and I have been marked as a misfit. It is nothing new to me. But again, I thought it would be different here. She is kind and sometimes when I look up I find her staring at me. There is something behind her eyes. I think she can see that I'm on to her. I almost have her figured out. When she catches my eye she turns away and pretends I don't matter. But that doesn't mean I don't catch her a dozen times a period staring into my soul.

Dylan pushes my bangs away from my forehead. "What are you doing in here, Norman?"

  
"Where did you go tonight, Dylan?" I ask avoiding his question. I sit up and push my back against the headboard. He sits down next to me. "Don't you think you're cutting it a bit close?" I say looking at the sun starting to rise and lighten up the heavy drapes in my mother's room.

  
"I got a job." He says, his eyes darting off into the shadows. A small smile plays on his lips. "It's pretty cool, because I mostly work at night."

  
"What do you do?" I ask suspiciously. "More to the point....how long do you think it will last?"

  
The sly smile had not left Dylan's mouth. He scruffed my hair and stood up. "She's back. I'm going to my room now. You...," he said indicating where I was at, " shouldn't be doing this. I can't always be around to protect you. You're old enough now to not be sleeping in bed with her."

  
"You know that's hardly the case, Dylan....you know her better than I do...but tell me...when does she sleep?"

  
Dylan sighs and looks at me for a moment longer. I look back at him and dare him to challenge me. I love my brother, but I love her more and it's kinda like biting the hand that feeds me, but he knows not to make me choose. "That bitch runs you like her puppy, and you let her do it."

  
"And then what do I do?" Her voice in the doorway. Dylan blinks rapidly and stands up. He had almost forgotten how stealthy she could be. He approaches her, never taking his eyes off of her face. She is leaning against the doorway, her arms folded.

  
"Not now, Norma....you know what time it is," Dylan said breaking his stare before it became dangerous and pushed his way past her out to the hall. He just wanted to retreat to his room so that he could sleep, regain his strength, and do it all over again.

  
She came up behind him as he put his hand on the doorknob.

  
"We need to talk. Where were you tonight? You know we do this together." Her voice was becoming agitated.

  
"Good night, Norma," Dylan said his back to her.

  
"There are wolves here....Dylan." She blurted out. Dylan turned to face her finally. He looked at her trying to come up with a reason why she may be lying.

  
"You're just saying that..."

  
"No...I mean it. I saw one of them tonight....I practically ran right into him." She said nervously.

  
Dylan came over to her then. Real concern showing on his features. "Are you...are you ok? Did it say anything?" He put a hand on her shoulder. Norma flinched for a brief second before allowing him to keep it there. She looked at him and then shrugged his hand off.

  
"No. No...I'm fine. I was long gone before he even had a chance to speak."

  
Dylan studied her face again watching her avoid his eyes. He sighed. "It will be ok, Norma...we've handled worse. I don't think it's going to be too much of an issue."

  
"I...I don't know Dylan. Trouble always has a way of finding us. You know I'm worried about your uncle and now this and this fucking water is starting to really give me a headache here." She said abruptly, her anger rising.

  
"I didn't ask you to pick this place, Norma..." Dylan said now putting both hands on her upper arms. "You know what it's doing to you...and me." He stared into her eyes.

  
"I just need us to keep it together. I just need us to be together on this. I need to know that we are together, for Norman's sake and for ours." She looked toward her bedroom and back at Dylan. "We've been through so much. And there's this thing...between us. I still don't understand." She tried to hug Dylan and he almost gave in, but at the very last second pulled away and turned again to his bedroom. "I can't...I won't....until you admit....for _Norman's_ sake," He said with an edge to his voice. "And our own." He went into his room and closed the door.

  
_You're aching, you're breaking_  
_And I can see the pain in your eyes_  
_Says everybody's changing_  
_And I don't know why_

  
I had dozed off and now she is here beside me, kissing me awake. Nothing lingering, mind you, Just a good morning kiss as a greeting to start my day. It still does something to my insides and I remember Dylan's words. It's not true. She doesn't run me, but she is my everything. I roll over to look at her in the shadows, as the sunlight has now begun to creep around the edges of the drapes and make their way over to the bed. "You know you can tell me mother," I say softly. "You know you can tell me anything."

  
She looks at me, not with love, but with obligation. It may just be my interpretation, but I don't think I've ever seen the love I have for her shining back from her own eyes. I just want that. Once.

  
_You're gone from here_  
_Soon you will disappear_  
_Fading into beautiful light_  
_'Cause everybody's changing_  
_And I don't feel right_

  
I move through the halls of my school. Wandering from class to class. Just phoning it in for the most part. When you live the way I live, you don't really give too much thought on how to do basic algebra or what happened in Gettysburg. You had to worry about your survival. And I have a lot on my mind. If there were men like Keith Summers here, what did the future hold for us? Would someone come looking for him? My mother is a good "cleaner" but she has never been one to care about the consequences. She doesn't think that far into the future, even though she's played this game since the beginning of time. I worry that she is wanting to get caught. That she doesn't want to keep running and to just give in. I won't let her do that. I want her to be happy. What I don't understand, unfortunately, that this is something bigger and beyond me. And I will never know. I see someone standing at the end of the long row of lockers down the hall. A shadowy figure that is there but then is gone. I didn't get a good look at who it was, but I did notice that no one else had seen what I had seen. A girl. Walking through walls.

  
Damn. The bell. I have to go to class now. Time to watch Ms. Watson, watching me. Another piece to the puzzle.

  
_So little time_  
_Try to understand that I'm_  
_Trying to make a move just to stay in the game_  
_I try to stay awake and remember my name_  
_But everybody's changing and I don't feel the same_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hurry and send Kudos before the sun rises...


	6. Hello - Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mystery is unravelling...Can Norman help? Norman might have more to offer than he realizes.
> 
> Song for the Chapter: Hello - Evanescence 
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v5gng6J7j4

_Playground school bell rings again_  
_Rain clouds come to play again_

" _Help me_." A hollow voice whispered in my ear.

I started and looked around. Everyone's head was bent over their books for the open-book test we had in our English Lit class. I shook my head. You ever get that creepy skin crawling feeling when you feel like you're being watched and you know no one is there? I went back to my books. I looked up briefly and saw Ms. Watson looking at me again, intently. I smiled a half smile at her and she smiled back slyly. What did it mean? She pointed at her watch and back at my work. I tried to focus on my paper.

  
" _Help me._ " Cold breath on my skin. I heard it clearly that time. The words seemed to blur on my paper. I looked around the room again. I saw her standing in the corner of the room. She was pale and thin. She had her hand outstretched to me. There was nothing altogether different about her. She looked natural except for the fact that anyone could see that she was dead. There was sadness in her eyes and it emanated off of her presence in waves. I felt it weighing me down. Surely, there were others that could see her standing over there, by the class bookshelf.

  
She carried an oxygen tank with her. Now that was something odd. Did dead people take their baggage with them after they moved on? She was kinda pretty in a "good girl" sort of way. I probably would have liked to have known her when she was alive. Here I am wishing to be friends with a dead girl. Have I totally flipped?

  
" _What do you want from me_?" I spoke to her in my head. Some where I heard that they could hear your thoughts. I didn't know if that was true but I thought I'd give it a shot. It sure would look weird to see me talking to a corner of the room. I already belonged to the "misfit society".

  
She didn't answer me, but kept looking at me, forelornely. I tried to ignore her and go back to my books.

  
"Class...you have 15 minutes left before time is up." Ms. Watson said and I jumped. I looked down at my work and realized I hadn't even started. I had a couple of answers but not enough even to turn in.

  
I looked quickly back to the corner of the room but she was no longer there. I exhaled a breath that I had held for too long. I turned my head and there she was right in my face. I could see people on the other side of her. She was translucent the closer she was to me. I fell out of my desk and onto the floor to get away from her. I could swear she was laughing at me, a smile flittered briefly across her lips.

  
"Norman!" Ms. Watson said rushing over to me. My class was staring at me as if I just arrived from another planet. Some were laughing others were saying things like 'Smooth move, ex-lax' and other such pleasantries. I didn't look up at Ms. Watson but kept my eyes trained on the figure in front of me. She put a finger to her lips, pointed to the bookshelf behind me and then disappeared.

  
Ms. Watson was behind me, helping me to my feet. I shook off the creepy feelings the girl left with me, lingering on my skin, cold and clammy and stared directly at Ms. Watson's, what I could only describe as 'ample bosom', right in my face. Hey I'm a guy, right? I'd be blind not to notice. Today she was wearing a soft, fuzzy black sweater. She seemed to always have some sort of black on as if she was in constant mourning for something. The amulet she wore around her neck was ruby red and so deep in color, you could get lost in it if you looked long enough. Ms. Watson cleared her throat. I looked up at her eyes and she was clearly blushing. There was something behind her smile. Something alluring and seductive. I don't know if I was reading her wrong but she seemed to exude seduction from her pores. I swallowed hard and hastily got to my feet. The bell rang then and the class got up from their seats and began talking loudly, getting their cell phones from their bags and pushing and shoving each other out of the way toward the door.

  
"Norman...," She said again. She put her hand on my shoulder when I stood before her. She is feminine and small, petite and delicate and her hand burns on my shoulder as she touches me. I will my thoughts to calm themselves but she looks at me seriously as if she can read every one of them.

  
"Are you ok, now?" She asked.

  
"Yes, I'm fine. I'm sorry for earlier. I don't know what happened. I...I guess I must have had a rough night last night..." I mumbled my answer and hoped she understood.

  
She looked down and picked up my test. "Oh, Norman....you barely have anything on your paper. You can't turn this in."

  
"I know...I guess I'm going to have to fail this one." I didn't like the thought of that, I usually do well in all my classes. It's the only thing I have when my life is about running. Believe me, it's hard picking up and leaving and picking up and leaving. I can't tell you how many new schools I've had to abandon because of our 'special situation'. I just hope we can stay here long enough for me to graduate. Then I won't have to worry about making friends and being "a normal boy".

  
"No...I don't think that's necessary dear," She said smiling at me. "I can let you make up this test this weekend. There is a make-up test Saturday if you're interested. Her eyes sparkled up at me and I was mesmerized. It was weird. It felt like she had some kind of spell put on me. I couldn't stop myself from nodding yes.

  
"Good! I will expect you then."

  
I turned to leave.

  
"OH...and Norman...I wanted to say I really loved the paper you wrote the other day. I feel that with a little brushing up, it could be published!" She excitedly grabbed my arm again and my heart skipped. It was my turn to blush.

  
"Thank...thank you, ma'am."

  
"Call me B, Norman...at least after class. I'm far too young to be a ma'am." She giggled and rubbed her fingers along my sweater. Was it getting hot in the room? I pushed past her quickly. I needed to leave before I was late to my next class. Yeah...I keep telling myself it's that and nothing more.

  
\------

  
Well...another day down. Now I have to get on back over to the motel and start my daily duties over there. I usually run the evening shifts while my mother and brother run the night. I turn in around midnight, since I'm the only sensible one in the bunch. You figure one of them would take the nightshift instead of making me the errand boy. I'm not bitter, I just wish I had a life. I put my books in my locker and remembered the whisper of the ghost girl. ' _Help me_...' and where she had pointed before she disappeared. I sighed and shrugged. I never have to look for drama, it always seems to find me, even if I choose to avoid it. It's my life. Well at least no one can say it's boring. I start to make my way back down the hall to the classroom and stop in my tracks.

  
Have you ever seen those movies where the girl of your dreams comes walking down the hallway or the sidewalk and it's kinda like in slow motion and your heart starts thudding loudly in your ears and time almost stops? Usually, it's followed by the hapless admirer crashing into a brick wall or tripping into her or something like that. Well, at least the first part of the scenario was happening to me at that moment. A few paces up the hallway striding toward me was not one but three girls that made my heart do summersaults in my chest. I knew them from the "study group" I went to the other night. Bradley Martin was in the lead. She was flanked by a girl I knew as Cody Brennan and on the opposite side a very pretty dark-skinned girl named Naomi Grant.

  
Bradley was beyond pretty in my book. Her long blonde hair and body with curves in all the right places. Her smile melted my heart. I was shocked that she asked me to come study with them the other night. I was even more shocked when it turned out to be a party that I was invited to instead. There were drugs and drinking and I didn't feel very comfortable there. But to spend more time with her, I didn't mind the latter.

  
Cody was a beauty in her own way. Sullen and tom-boyish. She always had a cigarette in her hand and a "don't give a shit" attitude. She dared you to start something with her. I didn't think I could get along with someone like her, but when I looked at her in class, she would smile sweetly at me, and I thought maybe I could get to know her.

  
Naomi was an elegant, classy young lady. She had a haughty air about her and her style was impeccable. She, as the other girls, was always clad in black and if goth wasn't dead and emo wasn't passe they could make it a comeback.

  
I didn't realize how long I had been standing there with my mouth hanging open watching them approach. It seemed like the waves of students parted when they walked through and they always held a commanding presence over the rest of the school. Bradley stopped in front of me and I tried my best to act like it didn't matter. Like this sort of thing happened all the time.

  
"Hi, Norman!" She said to me bubbly and cheerful. The other two girls looked boredly in my direction and hung back a step. Cody winked at me and curled her lip into a smile.

"H..Hi Bradley, " I said willing my voice not to crack. I still had moments of puberty rearing it's ugly head even though they were fewer and farther between.

  
"What happened in class with you today? You seemed to spaz out there for a minute...everything alright?"

  
"Sure...sure...I don't know...I just thought I saw something. It scared me. It's ok."

  
Bradley pouted her pretty lips and came closer. "I'm glad, Norman. I don't want anything bad happening to you. I like you." She smiled again and I was at a loss for words. "Hey you want to stop by my house later and study?" I gave her a look at the word study. She laughed at me and batted my arm. "For real this time. I need some help with my Lit paper, and I think you just might be the one that has some insight." I looked past her at Cody rolling her eyes and Naomi putting more powder on her face from her compact and studying her reflection in her mirror.

  
I nodded because I didn't know what else to say. I couldn't believe my luck. I was going to see her again. I didn't know if I was being used and I didn't care much at this point.

  
Ms. Watson strode down the hallway at that moment, briefcase in one hand and her purse in the other. She stopped in front of our group and gave a hard look at the three girls. They immediately straightened themselves and gave her their full attention. "Girls....I told you I needed to see you this afternoon."

  
"Sorry, Ms. Watson!" They said in unison.

  
"Good night, Norman, go home." She said in my direction and walked toward the door. The girls followed quickly behind her and they left the building together. I was left standing there in the hallway looking after them in awe. I might really actually start liking it here.

  
A cold chill blew past my face then and it went right up my spine down to my toes. I shivered. Suddenly it seemed as if everyone in the entire school had left and I was standing there alone in the hall. I turned to leave when the door to Ms. Watson's classroom opened and banged against the wall. I set my mouth into a determined line and walked toward the classroom. "Fine...," I said aloud and to no one....well maybe not quite no one...."I'll find what you want me to look for, but that's as far as I'm going."

  
I went back to the classroom and went across the room to the bookshelf that contained all of the works we would be reading that year, enough for the class to each have a copy. "What am I looking for?" There were tons of books on the shelf. I didn't have a clue.

  
My eyes just sort of fell upon a book that was mixed in with the rest of the texts. It seemed as if it didn't belong there. I pulled it out. It was leather bound and looked like a journal of some sort. A diary. I felt the room grow ten degrees colder, and that was pretty cold considering how they keep the classrooms on deep freeze. I had that feeling again that I was being watched.

  
I skimmed through the pages of the book. There seemed to be a lot of writing but also a few pictures drawn in the margins and on a few of the pages. My eyes widened at the pictures of girls barely clothed put into sexual positions and looking like they were tied up. 'What was going on here?' I wondered. There was something really wrong with this book. At that moment a wave of sadness washed over me again.

  
"Read the last page." She said behind me. I didn't need to turn around to see who was there.

  
I flipped to the last page and read the last page aloud to the 'empty' room. _"I know they are going to do it again...and soon. I want to tell my father but he won't believe me. I have no where else to turn. I have no one who will protect me. I don't want to go home tonight. I know they will be looking for me this time. I don't want to die."_

 _Has no one told you she's not breathing?_  
_Hello, I am your mind giving you someone to talk to_  
_Hello.._.


	7. Clint Eastwood - Every dead body that is not exterminated, gets up and kills, the people it kills gets up and kill.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Romero's not too happy about the new residents in his town.
> 
> Chapter's Song: Clint Eastwood - Gorillaz
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UclCCFNG9q4&list=RDUclCCFNG9q4

_Yeah, ha-ha_  
_Finally, someone let me out of my cage_  
_Now time for me is nothing 'cause I'm counting no age_  
_Now I couldn't be there_  
_Now you shouldn't be scared_  
_I'm good at repairs_  
_And I'm under each snare_  
_Intangible_

  
Sheriff Alex Romero walked the streets of White Pine Bay. He wore a perpetual squint to his eye. What lay behind the squint, not even his closest ally or friends knew. He wore his pain on his sleeve but explaining that pain away was something he was not, or ever willing to do. He stopped from time to time to look into a store window or nod his head a member of the community.

  
Today he had things on his mind. Things that would not allow him to explain away the gnawing sensation in his gut. He stared into the eyes of the people he walked past, wondering if they knew, wondering if they saw what he did. Smelled what he smelled. Believed what he believed.

  
Evil had come to his town. Evil that he didn't quite have a name for yet. Now he knew and understood that White Pine Bay wasn't anyone's ideal view of Heaven and that under the pristine veneer of a quaint little town lie a seedy underbelly of crime and greed and lawlessness. As long as it didn't effect the surface, Alex Romero was satisfied with the results. He tried to keep the law to the best of his ability. He had a trusted Deputy, Zach Shelby...one of the top members of his pack even though he was really no more than a pup. He was learning and for all Romero knew he was instrumental at keeping the crime that took place in this town on an even playing field.

  
A murder had taken place in his town. Not to say it has not happened before, but the viciousness the brutality of this murder had made it more unique than the typical drug deal gone south. This one had landed right at his doorstep.

  
Reporters had popped up everywhere within the past couple of days. It wasn't every day that someone's bloody carcass wound up at the front door of the sheriff's office. That it was a member of the community, if not respected, at least well known was even more of a juicy piece of meat to dangle in front of the vultures. Keith Summers lifeless body was left on the doorstep as a present or a warning...it was hard to decide. It had taken him several hours to process the scene and clean up the mess. Romero knew Summers. He had grown up in this town with him. He was not the most liked but he was a part of the foundation. He was unhappy, to say the least, as of late a the foreclosure on his property. He had blown most of his money away, drinking and supporting the weed trade. When he ran out of money, they quickly turned their backs on him and left him to the wolves. How fitting it was the wolves who received the remains. Now this wolf had to determine who did it and why.

  
The attack was a violent one. He was slashed up from top to bottom. His internal organs were exposed and after examination, it looked as if there were teeth marks or bites out of several of them. He had sent the body to the forensic lab upstate for analysis but he was coming to his own conclusions of what may have happened. His kind did not attack the humans of this town unless it was in self-defense. He knew of every wolf registered in the area and they were mostly peaceful law abiding citizens. They respected Romero and would not go against his authority.

  
The body had been mostly drained of blood, which left him really with few options. The reporters had required a press conference as to the results of the investigation and anything further that Romero could share. They wanted to know if there was an immediate danger in town or if this was an isolated incident. Romero had to save face because truthfully he didn't know who or what had perpetrated this heinous act.

  
\---------

  
It was dusk and Norma Bates opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling. She was lying on her bed in her darkened room. One hand rested comfortably across her stomach the other felt the opposite side of her bed for a presence. It was not there. He should have come for her hours ago.

  
She sat up and looked at her closed bedroom door. No one had disturbed her rest, or whatever was considered rest, all day. Her mind was never at peace. It was a series of flashes and memories and of blood and the need for it. The constant craving inside of her would never allow her the final peace and rest she deserved and desired. She wanted eternal slumber. That was all she cared about in her darkened heart. But since she had to "live forever" as it were, she fought hard to block those thoughts from her mind and her being. She fought them with the ever present pursuit of the game, the need and the want for others' life source and essence. It glowed upon them every time she looked at another person it was bright and blinding. She knew her son saw the same and it was the same force that kept him always moving always hunting always searching.

  
Where was he? Where were they both? Someone usually made sure that their mother was safe and that her needs were met. Now it seemed as if no one was there and that she was alone with the voices screaming in her head. She opened the door to her bedroom and stepped out. The sunlight was just dipping down low over the horizon and she exhaled a deep breath. The house was quiet. She wanted to go down to the office to see if anyone had made reservations and if she needed to attend to her guests. She wanted to get a better look at the town tonight. She had already been through the woods and found the areas where she and her son could hide if anything were to threaten them. She said son, because Norman could look after himself. He was one of them. He was someone that would be protected regardless the situation. He was one of their kind. No one looked favorable upon vampires. She had made steps to ensure that herself and Dylan would be safe.

  
When you are threatened as a vampire you have to return to the basics. Yes, water was not a friend of theirs and neither was wood. This place was covered in both.  But caves, rocks, and caverns...they were solid...they were essential. They were grounded and could shield and protect and cloak them in the darkness they needed to survive. Dylan would be proud of her that she had found these places on her own. It was always good to be prepared.

  
She walked down the stairs of the darkened house. The first level of the home was as quiet as the upstairs. There was no rustling in the kitchen. There was no music in the living room. Norman was not home yet and this concerned her. Maybe he was down at the motel now in the office. Norma took solace in that. She sniffed the air but all she could smell was the sea. She rubbed her nose and snorted.

  
_You think it's fictional?_  
_Mystical? Maybe_  
_Spiritual_  
_Hero who appears in you to clear your view when you're too crazy_  
_Lifeless_  
_To those the definition for what life is_  
_Priceless_

  
She opened the front door of her house and came face to face with a pair of dark brown eyes, dark black lashes that almost looked as if he was wearing eyeliner. Norma took a step back, momentarily startled, and took a better look at the face. A small smile played on her lips.

  
"Can I help you....officer?" She said looking at his outfit. She looked behind him and noticed a young, attractive blonde behind him, his eyes fixed on hers.

  
"Uh...yes....maybe you can." He said taking in her statuesque form. She was dressed in an outfit he didn't see a lot of women wear these days. She looked like one of those happy housewives from the fifties. She was in a knee-length brown skirt and buttoned up to the neck, flowered blouse. Sensible brown shoes and stockings completed the ensemble. She was rather attractive in that sense. She pretty much matched her house as far as the view was concerned. Nothing seemed out of place with her.

  
He didn't realize he had been staring at her until she smiled at him. There was something about that smile he noticed immediately. He couldn't quite place it yet.

"What can I help you with?" Norma said softly. She hadn't put her 'feelers' out yet on him, but she was sizing him up, always looking for a crack to slip into. She turned her eyes back to the other man and he was still smiling at her.

  
"Oh...," Romero said shaking himself. "I'm sorry to disturb you, Mrs...?"

  
"Bates....Norma Bates." Norma said now leaning up against the door post. She looked briefly past them both to the motel below. She saw a light on in the front office and took another experimental sniff. She caught his scent, very faintly. He was there. Why wasn't he here? Surely he saw the police car out in the parking lot.

  
"Yes. Norma Bates. You bought this place a couple of weeks ago."

  
"Yes I did, actually from the bank. It was under foreclosure. Is there something I can help you with?" Norma said starting to bristle. She wanted to hurry and get them off of her porch.

  
"Yes...it belonged to a friend of mine. Keith Summers. Do you know him?" Romero said. He wanted to "sniff around" the house and see if he had been here recently.

  
"I'm sorry...who are you?" Norma said, her eyes flashing briefly, folding her arms and blocking the door as she noticed him try to look around her.

  
"You'll have to forgive the sheriff...," Said the man behind Romero. "He's not too good with introductions. I'm deputy Zach Shelby and this is Sherriff Alex Romero. We're here just to ask a couple of questions. Keith Summers was in an _accident_ recently and we wondered if he might have tried to contact you or if you may have known anything about it."

  
Romero smirked at the word "accident". Shelby knew how to sugar coat things. He just wanted to get to the bottom line. He knew that Summers would try to get his house back and that he was not happy with the outcome of losing it. He knew that it had been in his family a very long time and would start trouble to get it back. He didn't know how many people he would have to work through to get it, but he couldn't imagine the pretty woman in front of him being much of a resistance in keeping him from at least trying. He didn't think she had the capability of doing what inevitably was Summer's fate either, on first impressions, but maybe there was someone else who had that power who was here now.

  
"I don't know any Keith Summers, I'm sorry." Norma said and stepped back into her house. She was prepared to shut the door on them if it got them off of her porch. She was growing angrier at Norman by the second. She knew her son was not that unobservant. What was he doing?

  
Romero stuck his foot in the door. "Mrs. Bates...Keith Summers was the man who owned this house before you. You have to know at least his name. Did he happen to stop by here? Threaten you maybe?"

"I remember his name being on the lease, now that you mention it," She said acquiescing. "But he has not stopped by here and I don't know why he would. We bought this house fair and square. I'm sorry if he has a problem with it."

  
"You said...we?" Shelby spoke up.

  
"Yes, me and my two sons live here."

  
"Where are they now? Can we ask them if they had talked to Summers?"

  
"No, neither one is here now. Can I ask you to please leave. I was just about to go out and buy some groceries."

  
"It's a little late for that isn't it?" Romero asked. Something was now making hair on the back of his neck stand up. He sniffed the air. It was that smell.

  
"I don't think it's any of your business when I do my shopping, now I'll ask you again to please leave if you don't have any more reasonable questions of me." Norma noticed the look on his face change. She didn't want to have to dispatch of two nosy cops so soon moving to this place...but she dared them to test her. She would leave this town in devastation if she had to. No one would back her into a corner.

"Come on, Sheriff, she's right." Shelby put a hand on Romero's elbow. He stood his ground looking her in the eyes. He breathed in again and the squint came back to his features. He put a hand on his gun.

Norma stared him down. Her senses were on high alert. She would change without a moment's hesitation and strike. "Don't test me..." she thought.

  
Shelby succeeded in pulling Romero away from the doorway and down the first few steps of the house.

  
"Sorry we bothered you, Mrs. Bates. If you happen to hear anything, please don't hesitate to contact us. We all would like to get to the bottom of this and put it behind us."

  
"Of course...," Norma said not taking her eyes off of Romero. She smelled him now. It rolled off him. How could she be so blind? She looked at the sky growing darker by the second. Soon the moon would be out. She smirked at him. "I'll be seeing you around, Sheriff."

  
The two men turned and made their way back to their car. Norma stood and watched them from the porch. She gripped her hands on the railing and her nails dug into the wood. She was seething with rage. She made sure she had seen the taillights of the car disappearing down the road before misting and reappearing on the roof of her house. She scaled the side of the house easily and clung to one of the parpets her vision trailing the police car to the edge of the town. Only then she knew she was safe for the moment. How fitting she would drop the body of that bastard right on the front door of the wolf who would certainly track her, trail her and hunt her down. She shook her head. She would deal with him. She was not afraid. She looked back over to the motel. Her fangs unsheathed themselves.

  
\--------

I'm here sitting in the office. I left the school with the book I found in my bag. I wanted to take it home and study it more. I had quickly stopped in the house and changed my clothes and grabbed something to eat. I didn't want to disturb my mother, sometimes it's just better to let her come around on her own. I had a lot on my mind. What was I going to do about what I had found? Who was this person? Why did she pick me? I was at the desk in the back of the office. Only one guest had shown up and I had taken care of him about two hours ago. It was another unsuccessful night. We would be broke if business didn't pick up soon. I had saw something in town about a new bypass being built. But I didn't know what that meant in regards to the motel, or even where it was at. By the looks of things it might affect us more than we realize.

  
I was so deep into studying the book. Every page left me feeling weird and somewhat dirty. I couldn't help becoming mezmerized by the pictures I saw. What was happening in them, what was being done. I wanted to touch those girls. Touch the pages. Help them. They were so scared and afraid. Being tied up. I read the last page again. _"....I don't want to die."_

All of the sudden I felt myself lifted up off of my chair and off of my feet and slammed up against the wall. All of the wind was knocked out of my chest and she materialized in front of me.

"Mother...." I gasped.

Her face was so close to mine. I could see the anger flickering in her icy irisis. She had me by my throat and my shoulder pushed hard against the motel wall. I saw her fangs exposed and my mind raced back to Dylan's warnings. "What did I do?" I tried to speak.

"Where were you?" She growled. She ripped at my shirt, showering buttons across the floor. My bare chest was exposed and my heart was beating out of tandem. I can't let her feel my fear. She was making me shake with it. She sniffed me and a look of pure lust crossed her features. She saw my chest rise and fall and she licked her lips.

"I...I've been here the whole time!" She had me lifted a little off of the ground my feet not touching the floor. I never underestimate her strength. I know she would not hurt me. She was just angry.

" _They_ were here..." She said again removing her hand slowly from around my neck. I gasped for air. Her face was so close to mine. I saw the years of caution and mistrust in her eyes. I never wanted her to feel that way toward me. I tentatively put my hand on her shoulder. She lowered me to the floor. She still didn't move away from me.

  
"Who...who was here, mother? What happened?" I'm concerned because every day since I was old enough to remember I have always lived in fear of " _them_ " whoever " _they_ " were. _They_ were always after us. _They_ were always out there. And when _they_ came, it was 'protect mother at all costs'. _They_ would not get her. I would distract them long enough for her to get away. To have let my guard down like this was unforgivable to me and to her.

  
"I'm so sorry, mother. I'm so so sorry. Where are they now?" I said petting her hair, her shoulders, touching her face, begging her to come back to herself. Something softened in her eyes, finally.

  
"They're gone now. But they know we are here. We just have to keep a low profile. I did something stupid earlier and now I have to be very, very careful." She looked around the office and then back at me. She put her hand at the base of my neck and pulled me close to her. I was still coming down off of my adrenaline but I would allow her to hug me. I hugged her closer. I wanted to take away her fear. I knew deep down she had it but it was only a fear for survival. She moved against me. I felt her hands in my hair then. She was making me tingle again. It was happening more often than not. My hands were at her back, swirling patterns into her silky shirt. My fear had turned her on. Now my pheromones were driving her wild. I can't say I didn't feel the same but it was not something I wanted to think about at the moment. She was my mother, after all.

  
Her hand in my hair jerked my head back suddenly, exposing my neck. My mind was going 100 miles per hour. I had to get out of this situation and fast. Do I blame her? You still ask me that question. No. I don't. I can't blame her for being who she is. She looked at me, wanting to stop herself but not. 

  
"Norman...." she breathed.

  
"Mother, please..." I said not sure if it was a request to stop or to continue.

  
She flipped me then and now my back was against the desk. I swallowed hard. I remembered in the back of my head something that Dylan told me, something that would distract her in case something like this happened. She was seconds from making me a midnight snack and I wasn't quite ready to find out how the results of that would turn out. I felt behind me as she started placing soft kisses on my exposed neck. It was becoming harder to concentrate if you know what I mean. She was working her way down to my clavicle, her hands touching my chest. Her eyes begging me to make her stop.

  
"Norman....I don't know if I can....I've...wanted...."

  
I found what I was looking for and knocked it over off of the desk. It broke her attention away from working her way across my jaw. I was lightly kissing the air beside her. I didn't want to meet her lips or I would have become lost. I would let her have me.

  
A large jar of jelly beans toppled from the desk and went scattering across the floor. Jelly beans were everywhere. She looked down at the floor and screamed in frustration. "Norman...why??!!"  
She immediately went to her knees and began picking the jelly beans up off the floor. I took the opportunity to grab the book on the desk and ease my way around her. "I'm sorry, Mother...I love you...I don't blame you." I left her in the office, picking up jelly beans. I was safe.

\-------  
Romero trotted through the city streets. He was getting his frustration out. He had changed again. This blessed full moon would always have its way and he was helpless to do anything about it. He heeded its call and was now on his way to the woods to feed. Some poor creature would meet their end tonight and he would revel in the wake of its demise. But he still had thoughts of the woman he met. He knew who she was. He was almost certain she had something to do with the man on the slab in the forensics lab. He would solve this and he would make sure that she paid for what she had done. It was only a matter of time. He was the law here and he had marked his territory. He wouldn't let anything come between that.

  
_So you can survive when law is lawless (right here)_  
_Feelings, sensations that you thought was dead_  
_No squealing, remember that it's all in your head_

  
_I ain't happy, I'm feeling glad_  
_I got_ sunshine _in a bag_  
_I'm useless but not for long_  
_The future is coming on_  
_I ain't happy, I'm feeling glad_  
_I got_ sunshine _in a bag_  
_I'm useless but not for long_  
_The future (that's right) is coming on_  
_It's coming on_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are like blood in your veins....I need them....


	8. No Light...No Light... Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A revelation in the light of day....
> 
> Chapter Song: No Light, No Light - Florence and the Machine
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATfUdaZQLMA
> 
> A short teaser chapter for Dylan and Norma's backstory...

_You are the hole in my head_  
_You are the space in my bed_  
_You are the silence in between_  
_What I thought and what I said_

  
Dylan stood in front of the hallway mirror. He smirked at it. His reflection shown back at him. He was glad it did. There were others that had to avoid mirrors at all costs. It trapped their souls and reflected nothing in return. He had no problems with mirrors, in fact, he liked to look at how good he looked after centuries on the run and in existence. He was holding up rather well. He looked as good as he did that day. Perpetual youth was overrated. He often scoffed at T.V. commercials that touted the latest "fountain of youth" cremes and potions. If it were only that easy.

  
He whipped the gun out in front of him again. Just how old was he anyway? He had long forgotten. How old was he supposed to be? He had forgotten that too. Somewhere along the way he guessed he was about 20-22. He preened in front of the mirror. He tucked the gun in the front of his pants and thought better of it. That was no good no matter who he was. Who wanted to go through life without something at least making it worthwhile. He smiled showing his pearly white teeth. It was mid-morning and he really should be in his room, deep under covers. It was a good thing that Norma always kept the drapes drawn and the house as dark as a tomb. He wasn't worried. He tucked the gun in his pants in the back. This was much better. He laughed. It was funny, him holding a gun. He definitely didn't need it. It was all for show. But a certain part of him thought that it was amusing. He had to keep his cover...be like one of the bunch. He fixed his hair a little in the mirror and stood back for the whole picture.

  
"What..?"

  
\------  
He walked into the kitchen a few minutes later to see both his mother and brother sitting at the kitchen table. His brother looked a little out of sorts. He kept darting his eyes at his mother, who appeared to be sternly looking at the kitchen table. There was no food in front of her. That didn't surprise him. Norman was busy helping himself to some cereal before he left for school.

  
"Good Morning, Mr. and Mrs. Bates." He scoffed going over to the cabinet and pulling out a cup. In all his years, he couldn't escape the need for a good strong cup of coffee. He avoided the patch of sunlight that had breached the bit of curtains over the kitchen sink. Sunlight didn't bother him....much. It was just....unpleasant. It felt draining. It was an immediate pull to the center of the earth. And the more he was exposed to it the greater the pull became. The beam was hitting a spot on the kitchen table. It was warming the back of Norman's neck but his mother remained in the shadows. Sometimes he envied his brother. To feel the heat of sunshine...to walk and bask in it. It was only a distant memory.

  
Norma looked up from burning a hole in the tablecloth with her thoughts. Her face was grim. "Where were you last night, Dylan?"

  
Dylan shook his head. "What does it matter. Things are different here. I'm making them different here."

  
"I need to know what you're doing."

  
"If it's any of your concern, I've gotten myself a job." Dylan looked at her for a reaction. She had none.

  
"Why would you do something as stupid as that?" She said looking at him, finally, leveling her eyes with his. She needed to rest herself, but she always tried to see Norman off to school before going to her room. She was nervous around him today, but they spoke to each other with unspoken words. He had forgiven her, of course he had. But she was uneasy nonetheless. Last night was pushing the limits of her control. She shook her head and put the thoughts aside. She was stronger than that. Norman would be ok.

  
Dylan laughed at her, incredulous. "Well...Norma....unlike you....I like to at least acquire my meals humanely. I just don't go attacking the first person that crosses the threshold. And if I did, I certainly don't expect all my meals to show up as willingly."

  
Norman stood up to go to school. He had his own mess to deal with. He hated getting involved in his mother and brother's squabbles. They could go on for hours. They had time. Norma reached for her son's hand as he moved past her. "Be careful." She spoke softly to him.

  
"Of course, mother." He kissed her forehead. He pushed past Dylan on the way out of the door.

  
"You know I almost attacked him last night." She said to Dylan as his form was retreating as well to his room.

  
Dylan paused, his hand on the banister. He looked at Norman as he was at the door of the house. His face instantly became worried. He looked between Norma and Norman. "God-damnit, Norma...why?! I told you to leave him alone. You can't touch or have him that way. If I have made the commitment, you have made it too. We cannot put Norman in jeopardy. He went over to Norman and put a hand at the back of his neck pulling him closer. "Did she hurt you?"

  
"No...no Dylan, I'm fine," Norman said shakily smiling, trying to reassure his brother that nothing that drastic had happened. He looked for signs of her influence on him, her pull. He was himself. Norman patted his older brother's shoulder. "It was nothing, really. Everything is alright."

  
Dylan pulled him close for a hug. He breathed in his brother's scent and sighed. "Be safe, Norman." He released him and shoved him playfully out of the door.

  
He turned back to the person he called "mother". She sat at the table still unmoving. Her head was bowed and she didn't turn to face him.

  
"How could you?"

  
"They were here, last night, Dylan. When you were gone. When you should have been here. You know you have to protect me. It is our bond. I had to answer their questions about...about that asshole who I dumped on their doorstep."

  
"Well I figure you'd have to do something like that...seeing it was you who did the dumping," Dylan said shaking his head. He knew she had become careless as well. He was still cautious enough to hide his "evidence" They would never find any proof that would tie his victims back to him. "Talk about stupid."

  
Norma whirled herself around in her seat. She got up and strode over to him. "Do you think I CARE that the police knew what I was doing? I am not talking about them. I'm talking about the wolves in this town. And it just so happens that the wolf in question IS the sheriff."

  
Dylan looked at her hard. He knew his mother wouldn't do something so reckless if she had known of these consequences. "Nice town you picked, Norma..." He rubbed a hand through his hair.

  
Norma suddenly had an attack of "humanity" she broke down then. Tears streaming down her face. "Why are you treating me this way? I told you I'm sorry. I don't know how many times I have to say it."

Dylan looked at her. No matter how many years had passed, he never ignored Norma when her emotions emerged when they finally did. That meant she was at a loss at how to carry on. That meant she allowed herself to become vulnerable. That was not an asset to her. That was a liability. He rarely saw her cave or lose control.

  
"I...I can't forgive you." He said softly. He went to the kitchen and poured himself some brandy, dumping out the coffee that had grown cold. He didn't want it now. He needed something stronger. Norma sat on the bottom step. Her elbows on her knees, her robe open. He saw the smooth lines of her legs and followed them up to the shadows that were inviting him. Norma wiped a tear from her eye. It was almost too much for Dylan to take. He loved her in human form the most. This is when he remembered. He remembered who she was. What she was before all of this happened.

  
"Dylan you know that if there was any way. Any way I could have stopped it from happening. To give my own life instead, you know I would have done it. I had to make a choice. I've told you all this before. You still will never understand. I did it for you. For us."

  
"Those choices you made, Norma...this is the consequence of that. There had to be another way." He stood before her and took her hands. He helped her to stand and looked into her eyes. He felt like he wanted to be her little boy again. He tried to remember what it was like to be her son. Then he remembered the pain of what else was involved, who else was involved and he frowned...bitter once again.

She tried to stop his thoughts. She put her hands to either side of his head. "Please...please..."she begged. Tears were running freely now.

  
"No...Norma, NO...I'm not someone who you can work your charms on. It's me...ok....we know who we are. We've lived with this and with each other forever. She was my sister...ok? Nothing can bring her back. You should have stopped it when you could. You let it happen...YOU did it to her and made me watch!!"

  
Norma slapped him then. She slapped him hard, her nail leaving a slash in his cheek. He avoided tasting his own blood. She slapped him again, repeatedly until he forcefully grabbed her upper arms and ran/flew her across to the opposite wall, slamming her hard against it. It would knock the wind out of a normal human, but Norma was not a 'normal human'. She flipped him and they both misted and reconnected to the other wall, Dylan's back hitting soundly against the wood. His head cracked loudly against the wall but it didn't faze him. He smiled ruefully at her and grabbed the back of head by her hair and pulled it back. They were both panting hard and were both gasping fangs exposed and flashing fire in their eyes. "Don't..." He said to her. His voice was low, near growling.

  
"I hate you...," She said, her porcelain neck exposed to him. His hands still in her hair, forcefully holding her in place. He was strong, not as strong as she was. She could end this at anytime. But her guilt let him dominate her. He studied her column of flesh. Once...just once....he wanted to give in and this would end up being a much different scenario. He shut his eyes to those memories as well. She was just as beautiful and beguiling as she had ever been, but he had disciplined himself not to fall as hard for her as he once had.

  
"I know you do...." He said letting her go. "It's what keeps me around." He placed a lingering kiss on the dip in her neck, tasting her power...almost losing himself to it. He smiled mockingly at her and went up the stairs. Norma watched him go. She wanted nothing more than to hurt him....love him....hurt him.....she screamed and Dylan felt it in his bones. He turned to look at her as she blew past him and slammed the door to her room. So much for a pleasant afternoon at home.

 _No light, no light in your bright blue eyes_  
_I never knew daylight could be so violent_  
_A revelation in the light of day_  
_You can't choose what stays and what fades away_


	9. Every breath you take.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone is looking for his sister....Can he bring her back to him? At what cost?
> 
> Chapter Song: Every breath you take - Denmark and Winter  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NDSP9dzk7g

_Every breath you take_

_Every move you make_  
_Every bond you break_  
_Every step you take_  
_I'll be watching you_

_Caleb Calhoun flew in the spaces between the earth and the sky. He flew over land and sea. He flew in the darkness. He hid in the shadows. He was looking for her. She had been gone too long. He stopped and stayed when and where he could. He had searched many countries, always finding traces of her,  but never her. He almost caught up to her once. Caught a wisp of her hair outside of Nova Scotia where he knew she had existed for a time, with Dylan...always with Dylan. He was never far from her side. Caleb could picture them in his mind's eye. One happy family. Not so long ago. Not before the change._

_Three months earlier..._

  
He often wandered the empty streets of any town and any where. He was familiar with the underworld and all of the places and the signs. He knew where he could be safe. He knew where he could get his answers. He knew who to talk to. The mark of his kind was quite visible if you knew where to look. The places they could be found were just as easy. They existed in the backseat of old cars, down dark alleys and to nondescript doors. He could be in any rundown bar, any old strip club, glance around the room and spot every single one of them. He knew how to remind them that he was one of their own.

He had been on the go for so many years. He rarely visited his homeland, the one he fled with Norma and Dylan. They all had left together under dire circumstances. They were all fugitives. In truth, he was the hunted as well as the hunter.

  
He didn't know what set her off. Why she ran away. Why she left him. He just came back one day for them and they had vanished. He thought that they could start their new lives together, just him against the world with her by his side. But he had learned the hard way...you didn't walk away from the "world" and this life without paying the costs. Without someone "not approving" of your decision-making skills and then there will be a debt to repay. That's what this life was all about. Revenge and Debts...everything in between was the thirst for the blood, the prey, and the victims.

  
The body count had indeed stacked up in his life and he rarely if ever thought about the trail he left behind. Now his goal was just to get to her and make her understand his need, his hunger, his desire to be back in her light. He had it once. Now her absence just made him shallow with anger, regret,and irrationality. Most days he couldn't see clearly with the blind rage and anticipation urging him on.

He had stayed in Nova Scotia for many months...searching, studying, questioning, exploring. He had become acquainted with the night life and had earned the trust of many underworld creatures, including a few of the demons that hid in the dark corners. There were some lines he knew not to cross some deals he knew he should never make. But he would make a deal with a devil if he knew that it would bring him to her.

  
There was a lot he didn't know about his sister after all the time spent apart. All he knew was that he wanted to understand the reasons for why she did what she did. Why she left him. Why she forced him to continue his curse on his own, alone and without his family. At one time he thought he loved her. He would die for her. He DID die for her. He didn't think she wasn't grateful for his sacrifice. She had paid that price already with her own sacrifices. She had her own pound of flesh to repay. What she had done to Dylan...and Dylan's sister, Anastasia...his twin, was inexcusable and she needed to be held accountable for her actions. He wanted to put faith in her reasonings behind it...forgive her and forget all....but her walls were up and his were now the same. All he wanted was the truth.

 He looked for the doors with the black dahlias painted on them. The mark of his kind. He found another one on a cold and clear night after hunting a hapless streetwalker and insisted she show him her wares. He left her deposited by a dumpster. He needed to move on soon before a serial killer was sought after by the media. He didn't keep the same MO...'always keep them guessing'.

  
He was nursing a drink at the bar, looking for someone he could get information from. No matter how much one of his kind were on the run or living below the grid, they would resurface somewhere. They always did. They couldn't hide from each other. Someone knew where she was and could point him in the right direction, to her. There were others in the bar. He looked at them..their gaunt faces, their pale skin, their unnatural beauty. The ageless, the undead. He was one of them and for a time he thought it was the most thrilling, exhilarating ride he was ever on. Now...if he couldn't have her....their children with him....it was a hollow existence and he longed for the comforting hand of death to lull him to eternal sleep.

  
_Oh can't you see_  
_You belong to me_  
_My poor heart aches_  
_With every step you take_

He saw someone sitting in the far corner of the building. Rather, Caleb saw hands moving under the shadows. There was a small lamp sputtering firelight out in a small circle of the table keeping the man's face invisible. The hand was long and slender and a forefinger reached out from the shadows, past the light and beckoned him. Caleb knew never to question the call. They knew why he was here, He knew inside the depths of why they were all here. All he had to do was "see". The owner of the finger that called to him was a powerful being. Someone he knew not to mess with. His debt was still owed.

Caleb approached the table and sat down.

  
"My sister....is she here?"

  
"She was...." the voice had a halting quality to it. Like it took a while for the owner to formulate a thought around the sentence.

  
Caleb's face was as shrouded in shadows as his companion's. He tried to look past. To see who the speaker was. All he saw was a mane of lank stringy hair and staff leaning against the table beside him.

  
"Birchwood..." said the stranger as he noticed Caleb briefly studying it.

  
Caleb looked harder at the shadows. The man had one of the symbols. One of the weapons that could potentially put an end to any vampire's life force. "Why do you have that...here? Who are you?"

  
"I'm someone who can help....."

  
Caleb scrubbed a hand over his face. He didn't trust anyone especially this figure lurking, who didn't seem to want to show his face.

  
"What do you want in return?"

  
"That will be revealed in time. Now you will need to prepare yourself for another journey. She is not far, but far enough."

  
"Is...is her son still with her?"

  
The man leaned into the lamplight a little more. He could see the scruff of a beard and sunken features of his face. He was ragged and rough. He was definitely not one of the beautiful creatures that roamed the night. Caleb wasn't even quite sure he wasn't inhuman. Humans were not allowed anywhere near the underworld, but this one seemed to have found his place and walked among them.

  
"Her son...and another...."

  
Caleb was taken aback. He only knew of his sister and her child. Had she allowed herself another mate? Had she allowed herself another offspring? He had more questions than answers.

  
"Where...?"

  
The man struggled as if trying to come up with the answers to the questions that were rolling around inside of Caleb's head as well as everyone else in the room.

  
"Too many....I can't focus. So many voices screaming in my head."

  
"I need to know..." Caleb said a desperate tone to his voice.

  
"Your mind is uneasy...and it shouts...it rages....with time all things will be answered."

  
Caleb threw his chair back...it flew across the room easily. It startled no one but it landed unnaturally against the far wall smashing into pieces.  
"Thanks for nothing!" He turned to leave still with his anguish and his misery and still without his sister.

  
"With time all things will be answered." The strange creature repeated. "You will be back again." He struggled to get the words out as he leaned back in his seat, and enveloped himself in the shadows once again.

  
Caleb eased back out into the street. The dark alleyway barely lit by one lone streetlight casting a pale yellow glow in the surrounding area. He shoved his hands deep in his pockets and began walking. He walked down a sidewalk past some store fronts. He stood in front of one and looked at his reflection. He was never tired. He never slept. He was always moving. He thought he caught a glimpse of the man behind him, tall and hunched over. But when he turned around the man was never there. He walked on. "Norma Louise...where are you?"

  
_Since you've gone I been lost without a trace_  
_I dream at night I can only see your face_  
_I look around but it's you I can't replace_  
_I feel so cold and I long for your embrace_  
_I keep crying baby, baby, please_

 _Every move you make_  
_Every vow you break_  
_Every smile you fake_  
_Every claim you stake_  
_I'll be watching you_  
  



	10. Hello Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little deeper into the mystery...

_If I smile and don't believe_  
_Soon I know I'll wake from this dream_

"Hey...!" A breathless voice spoke to me from around the corner of a store in town.

  
I looked around and didn't see anyone. I heard the voice, detached as it was, but I didn't pay it any mind. School was a disaster today and I just wanted to get home and forget about it. I had to get to the motel and I was on cleaning duties for the day. It was a dirty job, but it was just enough distraction to get the thoughts in my head away from me.

  
I was feeling pretty good about myself this morning when I left for school. It was tense at the breakfast table, but it always was around my house. I was used to the sporadic abruptness of emotions that swirled around my brother, mother and myself. I wish we could be like a normal family that had their problems but didn't take it to the extreme my family did. I wonder if other families experience the intensity the way we do. I sometimes walk past her room and watch her change her clothes. I feel confused a lot. She is an unearthly beautiful woman to me and I wonder at times how far I can actually take it before it starts becoming dangerous or weird for us both. I wonder if most guys my age feel that way about their own mothers. I shook my head and ruefully smiled. I wonder if they got the same kind of jealous I did when I knew she was not alone.

  
I got through my classes during the day without much incident. I hadn't seen the ghost girl anywhere around and I thought that maybe I would be done with her now that I had her book with me and maybe that was enough. If I could be so lucky. Sometimes I wonder if it is my connection to my family, the constant buzz of vampiric energy that surrounds us that I am able to pick up on all kinds of paranormal experiences. I didn't feel anything myself, it just seems that everything has a way of finding me.

  
I was on my way to my lockers before going to Ms. Watson's English class when I spotted Bradley Martin by hers. I thought it may be a good time to talk to her a little more. I wanted to ask her if she was serious about my coming over to study with her. Dylan had been prodding me lately about being a normal kid and 'getting a piece of that'. I still blush when I think about what he means for me to do. Sure she was gorgeous but she also out of my league. I didn't think I had a chance with someone like her. But chalk it up to my hormones I wouldn't go down without a fight. I have dealt with worse situations than rejection...not many more...but wait..what am I talking about here...I haven't even asked her anything yet.

  
She stood by her locker, her shiny black nails were tapping on the old green metal. In her other hand, she held her phone. She studied it and smiled. I was in front of her trying to find a way to start the conversation.

  
"Uh...hi, Bradley..."

  
She looked up and looked at me like she didn't even remember who I was. She paused and then a wry smile spread across her lips. "Oh...hello Norman."

  
Why did it feel hot in the hallway all of the sudden? I looked into her eyes and noticed that they were helplessly deep forest green. I could get lost in them. I didn't know how long I stood there just looking at her when she laughed nervously and turned back to her locker.

  
"I'm sorry..." I said feeling like an idiot.

  
"It's ok, Norman..." she said as she started walking to her class. I followed behind her, trying to push my way through the people that had started to gather around her. I wanted to say more. I wanted to ask her what she thought of me.

  
"Well that was pretty eloquent there, Romeo." A snarky voice said behind me.

  
I turned to see Cody behind me with a smug smile on her face.

  
"Yeah, I guess that didn't go very well."

  
"What were you trying to accomplish back there?"

  
"I don't know, exactly...but do you think I have a chance?"

  
Cody frowned at me. She was dressed in ripped jeans and a black tank top. Her nails were also painted black, short and stubby like she bit them all the time. She pushed past me into the classroom. She turned back to me and said. "Not a chance. She's got a lot of baggage and I don't think she's gonna unload it on you anytime soon...and also....she's got a boyfriend...oh and in case you didn't know...she's up here....and you're like....not."

  
I walked into the classroom and saw that Bradley was currently straddling the lap of said boyfriend. I looked at them for a minute and took my seat. My feelings were battling inside of me. I felt shot down before even trying. I couldn't help staring at her soft skin and long blonde hair. She turned and looked me right in the eyes at that moment as if she could read my thoughts. She smiled slyly at me before turning back to her "chair" and planting a wet kiss right on his lips. They started getting into it when Ms. Watson walked into the classroom.

  
I turned around in my desk and immediately was swept away by another vision of loveliness. She wore a black leather skirt and blood red silk top with a swooping neckline. Her amulet rested against her cleavage and I could see it rise and fall with her breathing. Heaven help me if she bent over my desk today. She walked across the room, her six-inch red heels clicking along the linoleum. She turned to look briefly at me before settling her gaze on Bradley. "Ms. Martin..." She snapped.

  
Bradley quickly hopped off of Richard's lap and made her way over to her seat. She glanced at me as well and winked as she sat.

  
_"I know what you're thinking, Norman..."_ a voice whispered in my head. At first, I was shocked. I didn't know where it was coming from, but it was definitely not my own inner voice.

  
I looked around but everyone had begun to flip through their books and pay attention to Ms. Watson scribbling something on the board.  
Ms. Watson's dry erase marker squeaked loudly at that moment and shook me out of my confusion. She turned around and looked at Bradley. Then she glanced at me. She turned back to the board and everything began to do that slowdown/slow motion spin on the world. It was like everyone in the room had stopped except for me and Ms. Watson.

  
She turned around slowly and in an instant she was in front of my desk. _"Norman..."_

  
_"How is this happening?"_ I spoke without using my mouth. My words were echoing off of the walls of the classroom. I tried looking at Bradley or at Cody but they had disappeared from their desks. It was just me and Ms. Watson. I focussed on her lips and wondered again, how she was talking to me without using her mouth. She smiled and the smile didn't quite reach her eyes.

  
_"Don't be afraid Norman..."_ She said and brought slender, black lacqured fingernails up to my hair, my face. I tried not to lean into her carress.

  
_"Where is it...?_ " She calmly asked.

  
_"Where's what?_ "

  
" _You know what I'm talking about. It was here and now it's gone. I need it back, Norman."_

  
_"I don't know what you're talking about..."_ I tried moving away from her but it was like I was walking through glue or cement. I couldn't even move my head away from her hand.

  
_"I think you do...but I don't have the time to question you right now...we'll chat...soon."_ She traced her fingers around my lips. I wanted to close my eyes. She brought her face impossibly close and looked at my lips and exhaled. She gave an experimental lick of my bottom lip and I almost whimpered.

  
*SNAP*

  
The world came back into focus. I was gripping the sides of my desk and my head was pounding. Ms. Watson had not left her position at the white board and was still writing away at the literature novel we were discussing. I looked around the room and saw Cody sitting at her desk...she was watching me very closely and was frowning hard in my direction. I looked to the other side of me and Naomi, who had her pen seductively hanging out of her mouth, was also staring at me intently. She tapped her ebony painted fingernails against the desk, as if bored, and half-lidded her eyes. Finally, I looked behind me and the forest green eyes of my crush were also glued to my own. Gone was her playful smirk. She looked at me with a slight hint of worry and concern. She bit her lower lip and tried to convey sympathy. _"Please..."_ she said to me in my mind. It was her voice earlier as well.

  
I had to leave the room. I felt nauseous and was going to throw up. My head was spinning hard. Whatever had happened was not sitting well with me at all. I quickly got up from my seat, making my desk screetch across the floor, loudly disturbing the quiet classroom. Ms. Watson had turned around, genuine concern crossing her features. "Norman...is something wrong?"

  
I couldn't say anything to her. Lunch was in my throat and I tried to push my way up to the front of the room and to the door. I gagged. I barely made it to the garbage can in the front of the room. I threw up. It came up from my toes. I had never been more embarrassed in my life. The kids behind me were groaning and laughing. Ms. Watson had come up and put her hand on my back. I felt it like ice through my spine. I had to get out of the room.

  
"I'm...I'm...." I couldn't say anymore. I just ran out of the room and down the hall. I slammed my way into the bathroom and headed for the sink. I turned on the water and splashed some on my face. I felt better. I tried to slow my breathing. I couldn't think of what had just happened in there. I know this would forever secure my place in the "loser's club" now I hope I was just not going to be branded "Pukey" or some other nickname I'd have to carry with me throughout the year. I sighed and stood up.

  
She stood behind me. Ghostly and ethereal. Holding her oxygen tank in one hand another reaching for me.

  
"WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" I shouted at her. "Why are you doing this to me?"

  
"I need your help! You have to go and see my father. He can explain. Show him the book."

  
"I can't...this is just too much for me. Why did you choose me?" I said turning around to look at her. Sadness was etched on her features. She looked hollow and very very tired. A tear formed and traced her cheek. I softened. I suppose she didn't ask to be dead. And truthfully, I wondered what had happened to her, myself. She looked so lost.

  
"I chose you....she said coming closer to me putting her hand on my shirt. I could see the veins through her skin...I know, a lot of you out there wonder what it is about ghosts...are they solid? Are they see-through? Do they look real? The girl in front of me was very real. I could feel her. I could feel her hand on my chest. I looked down at it and up at her face. She smiled..."I chose you because you were the only one who could see...who are you?"

  
It dawned on me then. This wasn't about me. This was about my mother. This was about my brother. My only connection to "their world" was that I was in their world, reluctantly or not. I wondered how many specters I had seen in my day, the ones that did not reveal themselves to me. I wonder if they had both protected me from the "other side". I realized it would have to be a very hard task. I seemed so easily accessible.

  
"Will you? Help...me?" She said, looking at me softly. She seemed deeply relieved that she finally had someone to reach across her lonely existence and connect with her. She brought her hand down to my own and it was very cold. A death touch. "Yes..." I whispered.

 

\-------

  
Now I'm walking down the sidewalk in front of storefronts, seeming to be pulled along by some kind of insistent tug. I hoped I was going in the right direction. I heard her again call for me.

  
"Hey..."

  
I turned to look into the hardware shop's window. I was looking at the reflection behind me. She stood in the road.

  
I smiled in the reflection. I could see that she wasn't trapped to the confines of the school. All of the things I knew about ghosts were becoming myths instead of facts. "How far can you go?" I asked her.  
"I'm bound to this town... she said understanding my question. I cannot be free and I cannot go to the light. You don't know how distressing it is for me to see the light in the distance but cannot go toward it. It is blinding at times." She looked away from me and brought her hand to her eyes, shielding them.

  
"Being outside doesn't bother you?"

  
"Of course not...I like these times. It beats moaning and groaning around in a dusty old attic or cobwebby basement." She laughed then. I thought she was kinda cute. She had a nice smile when she chose to use it.

  
She reached for my hand then. I hesitantly pulled back. I wasn't sure all of this was good for my psyche. I saw a few people pass me, and pass through her. She looked a little discomforted when they did that.

"Does that bother you?" I said indicating the people.

  
"More than you know." She said looking back at them and then me. She grabbed my hand and pulled me along. She seemed to have more energy outside of the school. She pulled me down the street and I followed along. She was almost dragging me. I laughed and we began to run. Her feet didn't touch the ground but they made all the indications that she was solid and going through the motions. I tried to keep up with her. "Come on!!" She cried. She seemed to be running all of the pent up energy she had built inside of her. I could feel the wind on my face as we moved past the stores and came to a shop at the edge of town. I slowed down. I was winded and panting. She was not.

  
She patiently waited until I caught my breath. "We're here."

  
"Where...?" I said swallowing hard.

  
"My father's shop. Please...just show him the book. Tell him about me. He needs to know that I'm still here...he needs to know the truth..."

  
"What is the truth? I said searching her eyes.

  
She looked at me with such sadness at that moment. She sighed. She stepped through me then and all at once I felt pain...horrible...agonizing pain....ripping through my bones. I gasped. I heard screaming inside of my head. I shook it. "Stop...STOP!!" I yelled. She had stepped through my body and appeared on the other side in front of my face. "I'm sorry." She brought a cold hand up to my face.

  
A man had appeared at the door. He opened it and looked at me, puzzled. "Can I help you?" I don't know if had knocked on the door or if he just knew. I had not recovered from her, being inside of me, showing me, and tears were now swimming in my eyes...the pain was real.

  
"Your...your daughter...." I said and collapsed on the porch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Help me ...save her....comments and kudos will bring her back from the dead....


	11. Rasputin -  Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for a Backstory....I hope I did them justice. More to come...puzzle pieces all forming a great big picture. I hope I don't have to mash any in! We're going to find out how they became who they became...and why!
> 
> Song for the Chapter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiSdTQ9DW9g Rasputin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have always loved the story of the Romanov family and Rasputin. I thought this would be a GREAT place to incorporate. Please by NO means take this as a history lesson. I'm sure it will be HIGHLY inaccurate. I'm just borrowing characters and reputations. I am no expert in Russian culture and language as well. So this is going to be a tough backstory....I just hope I can make it work!

_There lived a certain man in Russia long ago_  
_He was big and strong, in his eyes a flaming glow_  
_Most people looked at him with terror and with fear_  
_But to Moscow_ chicks _he was such a lovely dear_  
_He could preach the bible like a preacher_  
_Full of ecstasy and fire_  
_But he also was the kind of teacher_  
_Women would desire_

  
St. Petersburg, Russia 1903

  
Nadia Fomenkov and her two young children Dimitri and Anastasia, named after the beautiful heir to the Romanov legacy, made their way down the crowded city streets of St. Petersburg. It was Christmas time and the snow was deep on the ground. Dimitri often had to look behind him and grab hold of his twin sister's hand. She was always lagging behind, looking at the pretty Christmas lights and decorations adorning the city.

  
He looked up at his proud mother with her rigid posture and straight nose. She was dressed in her usual garb of many layers of clothes. It was very cold in Russia this time of year and the more layers the better. She always wore high boots to her knees, an underskirt, an overskirt and at least three layers of blouses and sweaters. It hid none of her beauty. She shown out like the sun and when her hair hit the sun rays just right, Dimitri felt his heart melt. He loved the way she looked in the sun. His mother was beyond compare in his mind. And when she smiled...well he would cry and was not ashamed to do so at the sight of her. He was always in awe at the way she handled herself as if she were the aristocrat and not the peasant she was in her status in life. She knew her place but that didn't hinder her. She was invincible and unstoppable.

  
She was carrying a few parcels in her hands and was on a mission to get to the church in the middle of the square. He saw her look back only once or twice to check on the whereabouts of her two five-year-olds. It was the job of Dimitri to make sure he remained in his mother's sight and care for his sister. It wasn't an easy job at his age, but he loved his mother and especially his sister Anya and would do his very best to adhere to her wishes.

  
They were often stopped in the street and admired for their cherub-like appearances. Dimitri would fight off a barrage of finger pinches to his and his sister's cheeks and ruffling of their curly white-blonde locks. "какие красивые ангелы" They would say and Dimitri would frown back at them sticking out his tongue. They were both dressed identically in drab brown frocks with starched white socks that reached their knees. Their shoes weren't necessarily shabby but they had had them for a very long time.

  
"Dimitri...come along....don't tarry child." A strong rich Russian accent highlighted her tones.

  
"Yes...mother....but Anya..."

  
"Anya...come...we are going to be late!"

  
"Yes, mother..." The girl coughed hard into her tiny gloved hand, giving her mother pause. Her mouth formed a straight line and she shook her head.

  
They made their way past the large Christmas tree in the middle of town, the reds and golds rivaling the palace itself, was the focal point of the spirit in the town. Even when you were low and down and out you would look at the tree and wonder what it was like to be one of the imperial family and it warmed you inside. At least it was the way it should be. It was about time for another parade to pay homage and respect to the Tsar and Tsarina of the House of Romanov.

  
The magnificient church in all its splendor lay before the small group. It had many spires and domes in various colors that looked like sugared candy. It was behind the tree and in even greater wonderment. Nadia approached it in reverance and took hold of Dimitri's hand. Dimitri still had hold of his sister's and they all looked up up up into the sky and they still could not see the top of the large domed cathederal.

At that moment the bells of the church began to ring. It started as a low rumble and grew louder and louder. In no time it had become deafening and Anya held her gloved hands over her ears. Tears formed and froze in her eyes, falling like tiny crystals to her cheeks. Dimitri turned to her and wiped her eyes with his own gloved hand. He smiled softly at her and patted her shoulder.

  
Nadia started up the steep steps to the door and her children reluctantly followed. It was a huge and scary place to them and the sooner they were away from this place the better. There were people going up and down the stairs. It was always a busy place and it was really hard not to get lost in the middle of everything. They had made it to the door and Nadia opened it for the children and herself and almost bumped right into a group of very important looking clergymen exiting the building. They pushed past the small group and they were all speaking rapidly amongst themselves. Nadia's shoulder brushed against one of the men and he paused ominously to look at her, at her audacity.

  
She was trapped by his eyes. They were dark, hypnotic, and instantly held on to her and she could not shake her view away from him. He was tall and thin, much thinner than the pious flock that surrounded him. His hair was black as a raven and was unkempt. He seemed to have no regard for his appearance. He had a long matted beard and wore a black robe that touched the floor. But it was his eyes that held and captivated. Nadia was at a loss for words. She couldn't even stammer an apology. Her children hid behind her skirts, peeking around the sides and looking up at the man that had made their mother tremble.

  
осторожны женщина, вы не знаете, что вы коснулась рука Бога?

  
Nadia swallowed hard and lowered her eyes, finally. When she looked up they were gone. It happened in an instant. She looked behind her, an apology on her lips, but they had disappeared. She walked down the aisle towards the front of the church. It was covered in many flowers and buntings and tapestries. Dimitri and Anya both stopped several times to take it all in. They lingered in the pews and turned circles down the aisle staring up at the ceiling that seemed to go on forever and ever. Nadia motioned them to sit in the front pew, quietly and without a word, warned them that they should remain there and not make a sound. She moved to a room off of the left and left her children alone.

  
An hour later, she emerged. Tears stained her face and her hands were empty. She looked over at the pew where her children lay in each other's arms sleeping peacefully. Anya stirred every so often with a loud cough that echoed off of the walls. Nadia teared up again. She didn't think she could cry anymore. She looked back at the man who she had spent the last hour with and motioned to her children.

  
"Is there nothing you can do?"

  
"I'm sorry, my child I wish there was something more. It is in God's hands." He took her hands in his own and kissed them.

  
Nadia frowned hard and her face became angry. "I'll tell you someday what I think of your... _God._ " She spun on her heel and marched towards her children. She shook Dimitri and he rubbed his eyes sleepily.

"Mama..." He said softly.

  
"Let's go."

  
"But Anya....she is asleep."

  
"WAKE HER." Nadia's voice rose. The man had come up behind her and laid a hand on her shoulder.

  
"Be cautious of what you say in this place."

  
"I've seen how much care you have shown to your people. You will not be troubled by our kind again."

  
Nadia grabbed her sleeping daughter and hoisted her up in her arms. She marched out the door with Dimitri hurrying to keep up.

  
\---------

  
Nadia entered her tiny home at the edge of the city in the small village surrounding it. She was exhausted. She had traveled over five miles to get to the city and five miles back and it seemed all for naught. She had given the priest her best and finest cut of meat from her husband's business and it was an accepted offering, but she returned with nothing but a blessing and a prayer. She didn't need that. She looked at the children at her feet. They were hungry. They were tired. They didn't deserve this life. Especially her little daughter. Pale and sickly, she could barely survive the walk to and from the city. 'What would she tell her husband now?' She thought desperately.

  
Kurt Fomenkov walked in the door later that evening. He was covered in blood and smelled of the butcher shop. He wanted a bath and a bed and his wife's food inside of him. He stood in the doorway as he usually did waiting for his children and wife to run to him and greet him, warmly. Within moments the sounds of little feet running to the room brought the smile to his eyes. Dimitri and Anya were both running to him, waiting to be picked up in his arms and hugged. He loved his children with all of his heart. He thought about them constantly. He thought about his wife. He thought about how they came to be. How they turned their terrible beginnings, their childhood living in fear and sadness into a happy life for the both of them and their children.

  
He scooped up his children and hugged them till the protested that he was squeezing too hard. He looked at them both with love in his eyes and he kissed each of them on the forehead and set them down. Nadia watched the trio from the doorway. Her eyes were wistful. She never wanted this time to end. They were in their own little private snowglobe. And she loved them all. He looked up at that moment and locked eyes with his wife. She smiled a knowing smile at him and ran forward to embrace him next. They held each other close and the children turned away when he lifted her up and kissed her soundly.

"Hello, wife."

  
They ate a meager but filling home cooked meal and talked about their day and what they wished for Ded Moroz to bring them this year. Their father joked that he wouldn't be bringing anything for his naughty children if they didn't get to bed on time, he would talk to him personally. They rushed to bed after they were chased by their father and fell quickly to sleep. Nadia came to tuck them in and she ran a hand over Anya's forehead. It was warm. She bit her lip.

  
Later that night, in bed as they lie side by side, Nadia turned to Kurt and watched him sleep. She didn't want to hurt him any more than she knew he was already hurting inside. She knew him, her husband, her brother, like she knew her very soul. She didn't want to tell him. It burned inside of her, just like her hatred did for every suffering she had experienced in her short life. She was forming a plan.

It involved a man...a man with dark, hypnotic eyes. She closed her own and it was all she could see as she drifted into a fitful sleep.


	12. All Souls Night - The Witches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Starting to tie all the bits together in one big knot....still a long way to go. Got to find out what makes these girls tick and who they are. Vampires, and Werewolves and WITCHES....oh MY!!!
> 
> Song for the chapter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RooTTuLCfNM - Loreena McKennitt - All Souls Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda went a little darker in this one. There are themes of witchcraft here...but we are bringing all the creatures out there's always room for more!!

_Bonfires dot the rolling hillside_  
_Figures dance around and around_  
_To drums that pulse out echoes of darkness_  
_Moving to the pagan sound._

  
They moved as one being, one group, one collective body down the hall of the school, out the door of the school, down the steps of the school and into the parking lot of the school. Bradley Martin, beautiful and popular, admired by everyone, always in the lead, was supported by her chosen sisters. It seemed as if the school inhaled and exhaled around them and there was no one that could touch the essence of them. Cody Brennan, her haunted persona hid things deep within, secrets she didn't want nor cared to share would lay down her life for her sisters. Naomi Grant, dark and elegant, was untouchable and aloof. She was what every girl in the school longed to be, class and grace and completely silent in her wisdom.

  
They were drawn and compelled that evening. They could feel it in the air that night, the need, the compulsion, the calling. When they left the school that afternoon, the air around them was filled with electricity. Bradley smiled knowingly and clasped her sister's hands. "Tonight..." she whispered. Dark storm clouds had filled the sky. They went to Cody's beat up old car and got inside. She lit a cigarette and took a long drag off of it and exhaled. "I need to stop by my place and get the stuff."

  
"Ms. Watson will be there before us..." Naomi said softly. "She is making the preparations."

  
"We need the book," Bradley said matter-of-factly.

  
The girls looked back at her in the back seat of the car. Her eyes had dark circles underneath from either lack of sleep or crying. She had been doing that a lot lately. Her father was dead and her mother was non-existent. She was always pretending to care about her. Always harping on her about something. She never let up. She was a joke to Bradley. She had a lot of shit going on in her life to deal with but none of it mattered when she was at one with her sisters and revenge on her mind.

  
"We never should have moved it from her house," Cody said, blowing smoke out of her window. She worried her black painted fingernail. She looked and felt just as tired as Bradley did, but for her own reasons. Her dad was unpredictable and a time-bomb waiting to explode. She hated him 95% of the time and the five percent she didn't she was too worried about when he would flip the script on her. It kept her constantly nervous and on edge. She hated feeling the way she did and she only felt safe in the comfort of her "sisters". They understood where she was coming from and she felt like she could be who she wanted to be with them. Revenge was a constant thought in the back of her mind as well. But revenge often came at a price. It was getting harder to pay that debt.

Naomi fanned the air and scrunched her perfect bob of hair and stared out of the car window. Being a foster kid most of her life, she got to know a variety of different parenting styles some good, mostly bad. She had learned to keep her mouth shut after suffering a myriad of abuse at some of her foster's hands. The ones she tried to get close to or began to feel comfortable with ultimately wound up disappointing her by either giving her back too soon or something darker. She had often woken up to the males in the house in her bed, hands on her body, doing what they wanted to her, taking what they wanted from her, threatening her that if she ever spoke about it that she would be on the streets and no one would ever believe what she said anyway. She knew in the end that ultimately she was the only one she could depend upon. To care for herself she had learned early all of the tell-tale signs to keep her safe and the walls up. She held a high disdain for most of the human race, a very sad resolution to her short life so far. She was so happy and finally found a sense of peace when she became friends and true sisters with Bradley and Cody. There wasn't anything that she wouldn't do for them. Her revenge ran deep, but she kept it bottled up and on a faraway shelf in her mind. They would not see her fall apart.

  
"Ms. Watson will get the book...trust her." Her voice never rose in octave, but all of the girls heard her words and agreed.

 _Somewhere in a hidden memory_  
_Images float before my eyes_  
_Of fragrant nights of straw and of bonfires_  
_And dancing till the next sunrise._

 _I can see lights in a distance_  
_Trembling in the dark cloak of night_  
_Candles and lanterns are dancing, dancing_  
_A waltz on All... All Souls Night._

  
\----------

  
Cody had quickly run in to grab the items they would need for the ritual that evening. The book was a necessary part to the ceremony, but she felt that once the evening got started they would have the answers they needed. Her father had not yet come home from work and she was glad. She grabbed a bottle of his liquor from the cabinet and her black candles from her room and a small bag with a drawstring. She had kept the things under a hidden board in her bedroom. She grabbed a few more of her father's cigarettes from his pack and left the house. It had grown considerably darker in the meanwhile and a few drops of rain had fallen onto her skin.

  
The others waited impatiently in the car. "Come on, Cody!" Bradley ordered her as she dug through her bag. She had what she needed in there as well. Now it was a matter of getting the clearing in the woods, to the pull of the meadow. She was beginning to feel lightheaded as the need grew stronger. "I know you can feel it!"

  
"I do..." Naomi said resting her head against the back of the seat.

  
Cody drove quickly to the edge of the woods that seemed to be humming and alive. They didn't know of all the creatures that inhabited it, but they had seen on occasion the beasts that made their marks upon the earth. Fleeting and furtive. The wolves who owned the land. If the girls paid homage they accepted the offerings and allowed the ceremonies to continue. They did know of the pot fields surrounding the woods and the men that ran them. Bradley knew all too well of that business. Her father had been a part of the seedy underbelly of White Pine Bay. She was protected as long as he was alive, but now...she pushed the thought aside. They left the car and marched single file to the edge of the woods which seemed to open up and welcome the three all inside, into the darkness, into the shadows, enveloping them in the safety and secrets it provided.

  
They worked their way down a path that stretched deep into the belly of the woods. Eyes around them seem to watch their every move, but they were not afraid. They had no fear feeling more and more confident the deeper they went. They were a part of the woods now, three as one acting in tandem with the rocks and trees and water and leaves surrounding them.  
They approached a clearing where a large bonfire had been constructed and was waiting for them. The rain (whatever little drops of it) had completely ceased and it was silent and still in the dusk of the evening. They stopped in front of the pile of wood and smiled in unison. They clasped each others' hands and rose them into the sky. Their laughter lifted on the breeze and floated down around them. They were finally free.

Blair Watson stood on the other side of the bonfire. She had been preparing and pacing and putting in place the distance and space, murmuring under her breath the words, moving in and out of the stage of this earth, to walk behind it to be "behind the scenes" consorting with the beings necessary for the ritual to begin. She had to be very careful with the timeline when she stepped 'outside'. It could take a minute or a year, she had practiced a long time and was not an amateur. That is why she was a 'chosen'.

  
The girls had arrived and a smile formed on her heart-shaped mouth. She had changed into a black robe that touched the ground and swished around her feet when she walked. Her pale skin underneath shown bright in the dusk-light and the amulet she wore was glowing strongly against her cleavage. She felt the heat from it and it made her woozy. Her eyes half-lidded she approached the trio and brought the circle together with her hands clasping the others. An electric shock went through all of the women and they collectively gasped. The woods alive...held its breath and they began.

  
They started to dance. To a song. To a rhythm inside of them. Moving their arms gracefully, choreographed to the beat of their hearts. Feeling the earth, the sea beyond the people within, the darkness falling around them.

  
Blair:

  
_The chant we sing brings swift justice to those who treat you unfairly._  
_Take caution in using it, though, especially if you have also behaved inappropriately._  
_Hecate’s justice knows no bounds._  
_She sees to it that all involved get precisely what they deserve._

  
She motioned to the bonfire and set it alight. The flames rose immediately with a long and loud "whoosh". She laughed loudly and her amulet glowed against the firelight.

 

 _Figures of cornstalks bend in the shadows_  
_Held up tall as the flames leap high_  
_The green knight holds the holly bush_  
_To mark where the old year passes by._  
______

  
_Dylan approached the edge of the woods, intent on getting to his job on the late night shift of guarding the pot fields. He didn't tell anyone in his family that this was his job. Partly because it was none of their business but partly because he didn't want to look bad in front of his brother. He laughed as he thought about that. His brother had seen a great many things in his lifetime and looking "bad" for working in a pot field, providing marijuana as a lucrative trade should have been the least of Dylan's worries. He blamed it on a false sense of decorum that he often assigned himself to. His humanity sometimes had a way of catching up to him and often lurked past the dark corners of his mind._

  
_He used the time guarding the fields to be on the hunt for his prey. He had a pretty good pick especially when the thugs from the rival families decided to show up and try to stake a claim and throw their weight around. Dylan had a way of making them permanently disappear. His organization had been thriving because of that. There had been a hiccup when Jerry Martin had been taken out as a threat from the rival family. That was before he started and since then he had proven his loyalty to the group._

  
_He was high above the trees that night moving against the clouds and shadows loving the feel of the wind and air as it moved within him and around him when he suddenly felt a change in it. An odd sensation. Like smoke mingling within the crisp clean atmosphere. The smoke was mystical and alluring. It etched onto his molecules and he felt its power through his atoms. He was momentarily frightened. And that was a hard thing to do. Dylan rarely, if ever, was afraid. This fear was instantaneous. It crept around his brain and he was drawn to it as if it was pulling him towards itself. He didn't want to become a part of it. He needed to come back to himself before it was too late. He heard the voices then. A chanting...a hummm...a pulse....a throb....it called him forward and he felt helpless to resist. He coalesced into his ethereal form, fangs exposed a heightened sense of unease. He saw a group in the meadow before him and the source of the smoky tendrils. A large bonfire below._

  
Bradley:

  
_Hecate, Dark One, hear my plea_  
_Bring justice now, I ask of Thee!_  
_Right the wrongs that have been done,_  
_Avenge me now, Oh Mighty One._  
_Turn misfortune back to those_  
_Who cause my problems and my woes._

  
She reached into her bag and brought forth a packet of letters. Blair looked at the girl briefly not acknowledging that she recognized them. Bradley danced around and around the fire. Repeating her chant, she threw the letters into the flames and the sparks flew to the sky. She grabbed the bottle from Cody who had been drinking from it and took a long drink herself. She passed it to Blair who studied Bradley with a sharp look and she drank and took a knife she had hidden in her cloak. She cut her palm and let the blood flow and wiped it on Bradley's forehead. Bradley turned her full face to Blair's and smiled in ecstasy.

  
Cody:

  
_And heap upon them karmic debt_  
_Lest they all too soon forget_  
_Their wrongful actions, words, and deed._

She danced around the fire, chanting her words, tears in her eyes. Images of her father danced before her. Images of him grabbing her. Yanking her. Pushing her. Punching her. Slapping her. She lifted her arms high and the bruises appeared on her skin. They were always there. More pronounced the marks were in shades of reds, purples, and blues. She cursed her father's name. His voice poured from her mouth. His words. His names he called her. How he made her feel. She approached the fire and thrust her arms within it. It did not burn. She felt no pain. Blair's amulet glowed as she approached, knife in her hand as she cut the other palm. Cody's arms came free from the fire, newborn, white with no scars, no flaws, no bruises. She took her face in her hands and wiped the blood across her forehead. She drank another swig from the bottle and bade Cody do the same. She lifted her hands to the sky and paused, searching the night. There was someone...something....different.

  
_It pulled at Dylan, gnawed at him. It kept him rooted in his place. He could not move. For one that had been so powerful, he was unable to break free from the hold that this dark magic had upon him. He watched them dance, he watched them sing, He watched as the fire burned, the black smoke continuing to wrap itself around him as if it knew...it did know...who and what Dylan was. It was speaking to the Mistress of the group telling her to be wary._

  
Naomi:

  
_...Don’t let them get away scot-free_  
_Bring them forth from where they hide,_  
_Bring swift justice–weild your knife._  
_Hasten, Dark One: hear my plea–_  
_Do what it is I ask of Thee._

  
Naomi had shed her clothes as she chanted. Her black peasant skirt dropped to the ground and she lifted the forest green sweater above her head as she danced around the fire. She wore nothing underneath, her lithe body, was curvaceous and ebony against the black of night. The fire reflected in her eyes....trailed down her body which bore its own scars. Knife wounds down her abdomen, healed over, burn marks on her skin, visible below the neck down they enhanced her beauty and she knew where each one had come from. She had made most of the marks herself. Her way of internalizing her pain. The wall she built around her. The silence she now kept. She allowed her sisters to see her pain. To be a part of her struggle.

  
Blair approached Naomi and took her slender hand in her own. She brought her other hand up to her face and stroked her full bottom lip. Her blood from the cut on her palm smeared on Naomi's chin and down the line of her neck. The other two girls had approached her as well and stood on either side of Naomi. Blair brought the bottle up to Naomi's lips and helped her to drink. Instead of drinking herself, she placed her lips on her mouth and shared the liquid between them. She kissed her becoming dizzy with her taste and the feelings stirring inside. She brought herself close and eased her lips away from the girl. Naomi smiled.

  
Blair:

  
_We come to you now Mistress of the night our light combined as one._  
_We offer you our mind, body, and soul._  
_Share with us your power._  
_Give to us your strength and make us whole make us one._  
_You have not failed us. You are eternal._

  
The girls had begun a frenzy of movement escalating with Blair's words, their voices mingling:

  
_Show us_

  
_Give us_

  
_Teach us_

  
_Who is next? Who do you desire? Who will appease?_

  
Ms. Watson's voice became silky and soft and sultry all at the same time. She threw her head back to the sky....and spoke the words that ran through her. The same as before. The same at every ritual...the name...who was next....who would be the sacrifice....the names in the book...the faces with the names. The blank, empty pages calling for more. Who would wash away all the things that were taken...that were done to the daughters of Hecate?

  
She spoke: ' _Norman Bates'_...all sounds ceased on those words.

  
_Dylan let out a scream into the night sky. It sounded like bats converging on one another, the sound coming from the very core of his being. It was deafening. Birds startled at the sound and all of the trees sprung forth the inhabitants. Not Norman. What was going on here? There was no way. He would risk death 100 times over than to ever have anything happen to his brother. He was finally able to move and he disappeared within the flocks of escaping birds climbing his way up to the moon._

 

  
_Standing on the bridge that crosses_  
_The river that runs out to the sea_  
_The wind is full of a thousand voices_  
_They pass by the bridge and me._

 _I can see the lights in a distance_  
_Trembling in the dark cloak of night_  
_Candles and lanterns are dancing, dancing_  
_A waltz on All.. All Souls Night._


	13. Hide and Seek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Norman finally meets Emma's father. Can he help her? 
> 
> Song for the chapter: Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwBaSoAs41E
> 
> I'm so glad when the show and my muse play nicely together. I thought the meditation that Emma's father taught her was SO RIGHT for this part of the story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY NEW YEAR! And New EMPspiration!! I want to finish this story!!! I have so much to get out and I don't want to give up on it! Thank you so much for all of the patience!!
> 
> I can't WAIT for MARCH and the last season of Bates Motel!!!! It has been TOO long!!!

_Where are we?_   
_What the hell is going on?_   
_The dust has only just begun to form_   
_Crop circles in the carpet_

  
"Come in son...it looks like you've just seen a ghost."

  
I fell unceremoniously into the older man's arms. My head felt dizzy and I almost blacked out. He sounded like he wasn't from around here. Foreign? English? 

"There...there...it's going to be ok...let me help you to a seat." 

He was very soft-spoken and I could tell through my hazy state that there was an immeasurable air of sadness about him. I walked with him down a darkened hallway into a small hovel of a room. There were odds and ends scattered everywhere. Large pieces of furniture. 'A place for everything and everything in its place.' I don't know where I remembered hearing that old saying, but in this tiny home, the saying was definitely accurate. He helped me to an old seat with a worn but comfortable cushion and I sank in and just stared at the floor. I was trying to come back to myself, the world still spinning on its axis.

  
He went to what I assumed was the kitchen and came back carrying two mugs. Steam was spilling forth from them and he placed one on the coffee table in front of me.

  
"Do you like tea?" He said not really waiting for an answer. He went over to an armchair of his own and sunk into it. He studied me for a moment, saying nothing. I looked around the room and noticed the large, stuffed animals posed in various stages of life. Like someone had taken pictures of them and they froze in the place where the flash went off. They were impressive.

  
"Did you....make those?" I asked after a few moments more. I had picked up the mug of tea, letting the warmth of the cup warm my hands. I had an unshakeable chill and the cup was doing nothing to quell it. I tried to sound normal. It has become harder and harder for me to do so lately. What is 'normal' anyway?

  
"Yes..." He said looking around at the myriad of fowl and small creatures that filled in all the empty spaces in his jumbled home. I felt a comfortable sense of peace the more I looked around. I haven't felt this way in as long as I can remember. My eyes finally settled on a framed picture propped on an end table. A lamp illuminated her features I was becoming familiar with.

  
"My daughter...Emma. I believe you mentioned her at the door." He said as he watched me study her face. She looked exactly as I had seen her last. Her picture did not show her with her breathing apparatus on, and she was quite lovely to look at. Pretty. She didn't make my heart stop like Bradley did, but I've always lived beyond my means if you know what I mean.

  
"She's...uhm...She's very pretty." I stuttered not sure of what to say.

  
He didn't take his eyes away from me and I began to feel uncomfortable. I started to pick at a piece of fabric on the chair and glanced away from him back to the picture again. She smiled happily back at me.

  
"How do you know my daughter?" He asked.

  
"I...I really don't, sir."

  
"Then why are you here?"

  
"I..."

"I believe you said something about her at the door when I opened it. How do you know my daughter?" He said again not letting me think of an answer that wouldn't sound crazy to him, let alone myself. What could I say to him? 'I'm sorry but I see your daughter in the hallways at school and she walks through walls and looks like she's seen better days.'

  
"Well..." I began.

  
"Do you know where she is at?" He asked me suddenly.

  
I still didn't know how to answer him. I only assumed he knew that she was dead. She really didn't tell me what I was supposed to do when I got here.

  
"She gave me this." I said producing the book from my back pocket.

  
_Spin me around again_   
_And rub my eyes_   
_This can't be happening_

  
Emma's father looked taken aback as he took the book from my hands. He ran his fingers over the cover and looked at it like it was an alien thing alive and crawling in his hands, on his skin. I could feel his fear from where he sat.

  
"Do you know what it is, sir?" I asked him.

  
"Please...call me Will..." He said absently, still running his hands over the cover. The room grew a few degrees colder and I knew that Emma was close by. I looked around but did not see her right away.

  
"You know she was sick right?" He said speaking monotone and not really to me. "She had this...problem with her lungs....She was so full of life. She wouldn't let nothing slow her down. She had a beautiful heart."

  
I listened to him as he talked about his daughter. I wondered where her mother was. I thought of my own and thought of how she differed from this man before me. I have never known this kind of emotion from a parent before. I have known fear. I have known danger. I have known and indescribable feeling of empty longing for something I can't fathom obtaining.

  
"...and one day she just disappeared," he continued. "I searched for her night and day. So many flyers. So many houses. I knocked on so many doors." He slammed the book down on the table and stood up. He began to pace the worn out, threadbare carpet on the old wooden floor. "If you have any idea..." He said stopping before me.

  
"I'm sorry...I don't....I just know that she needs your help." I said rising up and grabbing the book from the table. I just wanted to get away from this place as quickly as possible. I was starting to feel a weird oppression. The whole room darkened and my head was starting to get swimy again. I brought him the book once more.

"Please...just look at this...she said you would know what it meant."

Will looked back at me, suspicion clouding his features once again. He reached for the book and the room felt like it dropped another 10 degrees. I looked over to the chair where he sat and saw a form in a pale glow beginning to take shape.

  
_Oily marks appear on walls_   
_Where pleasure moments hung before_   
_The takeover_   
_The sweeping insensitivity of this_   
_Still life_

  
He walked back over to his chair and sat down, resolved. The sadness once again taking over him. He looked at me. In the dim light of the room, I could see tears in his eyes and on his cheeks.

  
"I had taught her this meditation when she was a little girl." He looked off into a distance at a spot behind my head. I could see the form behind him become more solid as he spoke and when she materialized the room became warmer and I felt a strange sense of peace and calmness.

  
"First imagine your spirit...rising up out of your body...out of your house...out of your town...out into the sky," He smiled closing his eyes. I saw her put a hand on his shoulder.

  
"...with a golden light...zooming and growing." He startled as if he could feel the hand now. On his shoulder. He reached up.

  
"...out even past the universe...and at that point, you look back and realize how small you are in the world." He whispered the last words and breathed deeply.   
For once it seemed to me that father and daughter were both at peace, finding the other at the end of a long journey. I watched them, a tear in my own eye. There was so much love between them at that moment. I smiled.

  
"Do you feel like that, son?" He said coming back to himself. "Do you feel that we are connected to something so much larger than ourselves?"

  
I swallowed hard. I have felt that way my entire life. The life that is mine and is my own. The life that I live. The things that I know that I shouldn't know. "If you only knew..." I whispered back.

  
I looked at Emma glowing brightly behind her father. She pointed to the book in his hands. "Save me." She mouthed.

  
_Hide and seek_   
_Trains and sewing machines_   
_All those years_   
_They were here first_


	14. Rasputin Part 2

St. Petersburg 1910

  
Dimitri found himself once again in the streets. This wasn't the life he wanted for his family and himself, but it was the life that chose him. He needed to do this for his sister most of all. To keep her alive he would do almost anything, including what he was doing now. Slipping into another storefront by the side door. He had placed a wooden block inconspicuously between the door and jamb earlier that day and now he was jimmying his way into the building. He was anxious. His heightened sense of awareness and nervous energy kept him alert as he entered the darkened building. He wanted only one thing.  
He thought of his mother as his hand closed around the object that he was searching for. He thought of her and what she had put herself through in the past few years. Who she was now and what she had become. How the stranger took the place of the warmth and love and admiration he once knew. She was not the same person now. He didn't know who she was.

  
He didn't even really remember when it all started. Just one day the loving mother she was was there and then the next she was gone. Gone were the meager but warm meals. Gone were the kisses on the forehead and encouraging pats. Gone were the times when they were alone together.  
He pushed those thoughts away and tried to stay focussed on grabbing a few more items in the dark store. He stumbled over a box of something in his way and went sprawling onto the floor a few oranges spilling out from his ragged jacket. He tried to catch himself trying to keep quiet and disappear back into the shadows. The clatter caused a light to come on in the stairwell "дерьмо" he cursed. He scrabbled to pick up the items and get back to the side door. Just as he made it back to the door he heard a low growl behind him. He didn't want to turn around.

_Three years earlier...._

  
Nadia Fomenkov sat in the crowded theater looking up at the small screen the wondrous invention brought to them years earlier by the Americans and still a mystery to her. She was forever fascinated by modern things and this life captivated her more than anything else in her own drab and dire own. She could escape here. She didn't have to think about all of her problems. She just 'went away' inside of her head when she looked up at the screen and watched the heroes escape from burning buildings or rescue the ladies in distress. There was no sound which made everything better because she could imagine her own dialogue and lock the door to her dreams. She allowed herself this one pleasure in her life of so many tragedies. She came here to think. To plot. To wonder and to worry over her life and her situation. She didn't know how much strength she had or how far she was being pushed but she knew that the answers were close. They were in her grasp. She just had to keep strong and on her guard. She did this, she told herself, for her children. For Kurt. She locked her feelings away inside of herself because if she acknowledged them she would go mad. She didn't know how to help her daughter. She was alive still, by the grace of her own strength and courage. She did what she had to do, laundry for her neighbors for a few extra rubles, giving up her meals so that Anya could eat and sending her son out to beg and rob so that they could survive. Kurt had lost his job at the meat market due to the war that had taken place between the Japanese and the Russians. The Tzar Nicholas saw the fall of his empire at the hands of those evil bastards and it caused the collapse and demise of everything they held dear. They were poor before. Now she didn't even know what to call herself. Kurt had taken to the drink and she had taken to the escape. She lived in despair and agony while the Tzar still lived in opulence and luxury and that's just the way things were in her life. She bit her lip bitterly and stared up at the screen.

A newsreel had begun before the start of the film. It was jittery and fast-paced showing the usual propaganda of the family that occupied most of her thoughts these days. Thoughts of hatred and revenge. There on the screen showed the beautiful Romanov family, the daughters, and the son, Alexei, his heir to the throne and legacy of the Romanovs. He was a beautiful little boy. His hair full of curls. He reminded her of how Dimitri looked when he was the boy's age. She watched the boy on the screen and tuned the rest of the family out. The Romanovs were no stranger to pain and tragedy, even in their high state. She knew this. The news had told her as much every time she came to hear the new condition of the sickly and weak little boy. He had hemophilia. Something he had inherited from his mother's side. The sadness of the family was outcried in the streets. "Молитвы о наследнике династии Романовых!!" It reached to the farthest villages. To the widest countries to places all around the world. Their poor son. Nadia laughed abruptly.

  
Her eyes flickered up as a shadow fell over the small boy in the frame. A hand was resting on his shoulder. Her eyes trailed up the long, slender, robed arm and settled firmly on the black eyes staring back at her. It seemed as if time stopped as well as the film. The room hushed silent as she stared into a familiar face. Into familiar eyes. Even on the screen and in the past and completely unreal, he had the power to draw her in, to hold her in place, to become lost and unable to look away.

  
He was larger than life on the movie screen in the small theater and it was as if the world had shut itself off and it all fell away as she watched his movements. The camera panned away and the moment was lost. Nadia gasped for air. It had felt as if it had all been sucked out of the room at that moment. The force was so strong and powerful. And it was then the answer hit her, just as hard as his presence had. He was the answer. He was the way. He knew how to save her. He knew. He was calling to her and all she had to do was answer his call. She knew. She had to find him.

_Rasputin._

  
He had made a name for himself in St. Petersburg. He was a nobody before he stepped foot into that large Russian city. He was a peasant. A farmer. He was married and had kids of his own. Somehow he was compelled and drawn to St. Petersburg and it was mostly for the women. He wanted them like air. He lived for women. He was not attractive. He was actually sinister to look at. He had long shaggy locks of raven black hair and often smelled of alcohol, another of his favorite past times. He drank more than a fish. He could drink anyone under a table and get up and race them home. He wanted to live big and his peasant farm life was not going to decide his fate. Women were drawn to him regardless of his looks. He had an ample endowment and he found that women seemed to prefer that no matter what package it came in. He had sex so much in that town with so many women he had lost count years ago. He was ambitious, and after a time even the women didn't satisfy his increasing hunger. He wanted more. He had all but forgotten his family in the small village he had left. He didn't want them hanging onto his ankles as he sought his fame and fortune. His aim was high. He wanted to go all the way to the top. But just how he would do that, one only needed the opportunity.

  
He found that opportunity in the form of the Tzarina of the Romanov Empire. She was a gullible Empress willing and wanting to believe anything that would cross her path. Her path had been blocked as of late by the sickness and life-threatening illness of her only son. She loved the boy with all of her heart. She was beside herself with worry and agony at his condition and it blocked all rational and logical thought from her mind. Her husband was at war constantly. She did not have him to turn to and there was no one else in the world but herself and her children. She held herself high in aristocracy and was oblivious to the plight of her people, but her family felt the full force of her care and love and attention. She was near desperation when the 'mad monk' arrived at her doorstep.

 _He ruled the Russian land and never mind the czar_  
_But the cassock he danced really_ wunderbar  
_In all affairs of_ state _he was the man to please_  
_But he was real great when he had a girl to squeeze_  
_For the_ queen _he was no wheeler dealer_  
_Though she'd heard the things he'd done_  
_She believed he was a holy healer_  
_Who would heal her son_

  
He had passed himself off as a minister in the monastery. A well respected and honored priest. Someone that had the will and the power of the people behind him. Someone that cared for her son and his health. He promised her. He put his life on the line for her that he would save her son. He would heal her son and that he would live to see and be the heir to their throne. Empress Alexandra was willing to do and try anything at any cost to save her son. She welcomed Rasputin into her home at that time and relied solely on his advice and wisdom to the benefit of her son. Rasputin had no doubt in his mind that he could cure the boy. He exuded the confidence and mesmerizing power that drew everyone to his will. The Empress was soon under his spell as well. She longed for her time she could be with Rasputin and he handled her with the finest of kid gloves. She had the power but he had the strings and she was quickly becoming a very valuable puppet for his pleasures.

  
Nadia knew of none of these things as she walked along the city streets after the film had ended. Truthfully, she had not watched the movie or knew what it was about at all. It was foolish for her to waste her pennies and not at least watch the film, but her thoughts were elsewhere. The pull and the need to find Rasputin was overwhelming to her. She held her hand up to her throat as if she was being strangled. She couldn't breathe. She stopped and leaned against a wall. The street lamps were lit around the town and the cobblestones were wet after a fresh rain. The smell of industry was in the air. All day long the smoke from the factories spill into the sky and leave behind the smell of black smoke that no one ever really gets used to. This was not causing Nadia's crisis. She couldn't shake the thoughts from her brain that she needed to be with him. To see him just once more. To ask him.

_'Help me...'_

  
She wandered aimlessly in the streets for another hour. Her desperation not turning her feet towards the path home. She couldn't go back there and face them again. She had no answers. She didn't want to see the questions in their eyes. Her husband, grown cold. She could no longer bear his touch, even though he claimed to love her above all else. She wrapped herself tighter in her thin sweater and huddled herself in a dark corner. She allowed the tears to flow freely. She looked up into the clear sky. The smoke had cleared away for the day and she saw a star shining brightly back at her. The lights of the city blocking out most of the stars, but this one outshone the rest. It gave her a tiny glimmer of hope in her plight. She stood straighter and rubbed a fingerless gloved finger under her nose, sniffed and held her head high. When she did, she saw a dim amber light coming from across the street, pouring out into the darkness, like a beacon.

  
There was raucous sounds and laughter coming from the building and it was increasingly growing louder in the quiet streets. Nadia cocked her head the side and took a few steps across the street toward the building. The closer she got she could see people dancing and drinking and laughing and shouting. She wondered what was going on. She stood in front of the doorway, only to be shoved aside by a drunken couple pushing their way past her, hanging off of each other and wobbling down the street. She frowned in their direction but pushed her way inside avoiding more staggering people. The music was loud and the air was smoky. She smelled the air and its fragrance was potent. Her head was starting to become swimmy. "Что ты пьешь, девушка"

  
A man spoke to her from behind a bar. He shoved something small into her hand and its contents sloshed over the side. She hadn't drunk anything in a long, long time. Vodka was a staple in Russia but it was still hard to come by when you were poor. She took it gratefully and downed it in one gulp. She wanted more. The man behind the bar smiled a toothless grin at her and poured her another shot. He laughed heartily and clapped her on the back. "You drink like a man!" He coughed with more laughter as he watched her accept his challenge and down the other shot just as quickly. It burned her throat in the best way possible. She needed that in the worst way possible. It felt good. Another song started up and she turned around to watch a crowd of people begin to dance. Someone grabbed her around the waist and swung with her to the center of the room. She only resisted a little. A smile spread across her face and the twinkle finally reached her eyes.

  
She danced for how long, she did not know. She twirled and spun and shed clothes as she did so. Her sweaters came off and her fingerless gloves. Her peasant skirts swirled up around her and her hair loosened from its confines and framed her beautiful features. People kept plying her with drinks and she downed them like water. She forgot all of her problems as she danced. People had stopped to watch her. She had fire in her eyes and her feet were light. Her features were striking, with her long straight nose, perfect white teeth, slender body. She turned more than one head there that night. Men approached her to dance but she refused them politely. She just wanted to dance. One man pulled at her arms to join him in a room across the hall. She pushed at his arms but he was stronger than she was. He tried to cajole her into meeting someone with him. Nadia wanted no part of it. She started pulling back and he locked his grip around her waist. He pulled her close and breathed alcohol into her face. "Ты захочешь встретиться с ним красиво ... ты просто его тип"

  
The older man with the foul breath pulled Nadia toward the room in the back and she could hear sounds of women moaning and laughing. Nadia wanted to get away. Something was not right about this situation. She held back as best as she could but the man had an iron grip on her and all she could do was struggle to get out of his face as he pressed it to her neck. "RASPUTIN...!!" He screamed into her ear. Nadia instantly stopped struggling. The noise paused in the room. A grunt of frustration was the reply. "I have another one here for you....and she's a feisty one!"

Nadia was tossed into the room without another warning and the door closed on her. She stayed on the floor, refusing to look up. She didn't want to see. She couldn't believe it. She trembled at the thought. The air smelled thick of sweat and sex. There was movement everywhere but it was hushed and quiet now. She couldn't hear anything through the rush of blood in her ears. Her heart was pounding hard. It couldn't be him. Here. In this place. She felt something brush past her face and realized it was a scantily clad woman brushing past her to the door. The room was even more dimly lit than the previous one and she could make out only shadows. Candlelight was creating soft yellow glow spots in different areas of the room. More shuffling of feet. She could only hear the sounds of her rapid breathing and the rusty squeak of bedsprings.

"Rise and approach me." The voice was powerful and commanding, yet he did not scream. His voice came from everywhere in the room and all around her. It resonated off of the walls. She shook. She was afraid. A long, bony hand with tapered fingers appeared in her line of sight and cupped her chin. She allowed her chin to be lifted to bring her eyes up to the ones she knew would be waiting. Mesmerizing and deep they instantly captured her within and a strong bond was placed on her at that moment. She felt everything around her, her life, her being, fall away to ashes beside her. Nothing mattered but he and her. His hand was gentle on her face. He brushed his thumb across her lip. She sighed at his touch. "Do you know who I am?" He whispered down to her.

  
"I...I do."

  
"I know why you are here."

  
"Can you....help me?"

  
Nadia didn't know if she was speaking aloud or hearing her voice in her head. Flashes of Dimitri and Anya appeared before her but they were pushed aside. This power was so much stronger. All she could feel was him. It was overwhelming. It was a weight bearing down on her. It was dark. Evil. He encompassed everything he touched and now he was touching her. Her clavicle. Down the slender column of her neck. The curve of her breast. She shivered.

  
"Will you serve me?"

  
"Why....why me?" Her whispers barely audible.

  
"You need me. You've needed me for the longest time. You've found me. And you've found your way home."


End file.
